And I put TNA down? After last night’s Raw, I have started questioning my sanity. It’s been too many weeks of the worst of the worst. I have throughout the years gotten to the point where I might not like WWE shows, but in the back of my mind I guess I just figure that no matter how bad the show is things will turn around and they usually do. So if I don’t like one of the shows I just know I’m going to stay with it. But I’m at a point right now where I don’t know if I want to watch Raw anymore. Sure that might sound overly dramatic but last night was the first night in 10 years that I couldn’t stick with the show without channel surfing. Channel surfing was how I started to watch Raw, and now I’m doing it while the show is on. This bothers me more than all of you know. I honestly don’t know why Raw has gone down the tubes so badly. You know if some of you want to stop reading this now I can’t blame you because it really doesn’t get any better. There is nothing except the main even that I can say was at least entertaining. So if you can put up with me I’m going to comment on what I saw and oh boy it’s not good.
1. Vince should have stopped while he was ahead. He got plenty of mainstream press and favorable mainstream press about the WWE getting screwed by Denver owner, Stan Kroenke. But that wasn’t enough, no, he had to make it the theme of the night, and mind you there is a pay per view in less than two weeks, yet THIS was what Raw was about. We got an unfunny Kroenke impersonator, Vince doing DX material and not doing it well and all in all this was horrible. It was 15 minutes of my life that I will never get back, and it unfortunately set the tone for the rest of Raw.
2. Maryse vs. Kelly Kelly wasn’t bad at all, but the ending was terrible and it took a way from what could have been a decent match and a nice showing for Kelly Kelly.
3. I guess it’s more important to make the Bella twins look like the whores of Monday night instead of showing us what they can do in the ring. I am so sick of seeing them grab on to a guy backstage. And last night it was the Jack Nicholson look a like. And to make this even worse, they had Goldust and Hornswoggle do “comedy.”
4. When Ric Flair and Batista have their “intimate” talks they bomb. I didn’t buy one thing that was being said by either guy. None of it seemed natural. These two don’t click well in the backstage segments. Or maybe it’s just that I’m not happy to have Ric Flair back if they plan to let him wrestle again.
5. I happened to like the number one contender match for the U.S. title with William Regal vs. Matt Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston. However there was absolutely no build up for this match which I found funny since poor JR did all he could to make the U.S. title seem so prestigious. It’s too bad that the creative team couldn’t do the same thing. I thought MVP did a nice job on the mic with Lawler and JR so this wasn’t a total washout.
6. The segment with Ric Flair calling out Randy Orton was okay, but I thought it improved greatly with what Orton had to say. Randy’s promo said it all when it came to Flair. It was perfect when Orton said Triple H only kept Flair around because he felt sorry for him. Orton then told Flair that he’s starting to feel sorry for Ric, and even the crowd feels sorry for Ric. Randy was the highlight here. But this segment wasn’t over. We then got the surprise return of Mr. Kennedy. I’m not going to say I’m happy or unhappy to have him back, time will tell if this guy can deliver. What I will add is that Kennedy according to reports injured his wrist during that main event match. So far nothing else has been updated so hopefully he can work through it.
7. Santino and Mickie vs. Beth Phoenix and Chavo. The object of this match was, that the winners would decide what kind of extreme match Santina vs. Vickie Guerrero will have at Extreme Rules. Santino and Mickie won and Santino had the honor of picking a Hog Pen match. Get it? Hog, Vickie is a pig. Oh yes this was a riot, Hee Haw!
8. The Brian Kendrick and Festus vs. Goldust and Hornswoggle was a match I have nothing to say about since I was channel surfing, but then again I think that says it all.
9. By the time John Cena, Batista, MVP and Jerry Lawler vs. Miz, Orton, DiBiase and Big Show came on I was so ready for this. I needed to be entertained and even though this might not have been the greatest match, this at least had a good pace, the Los Angeles crowd woke up for it and I enjoyed it. I needed something and this was it.
I am upset with “ME” for being so nasty with this column. It’s not why I became a columnist. I did this because I love talking wrestling, especially WWE. So putting something out like this is SO not what I want to do. I can only hope that there is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel and that Monday nights for me will be something that I look so forward too again. I don’t know if Raw has lost it because Shawn Michaels and Triple H are not on, of if it’s just bad writing, but something has to click and click soon. And for now I won’t be knocking TNA, how can I? Not when Raw the top WWE show has become an effort to watch. Hey there’s always ECW and Smackdown and over the weekend I could have one very upbeat column about Friday’s show. And I know that’s something that I need and want to do very badly.
Okay I typed this up yesterday and I’m sure you can all tell my mood was a low as it could be. I’m much more upbeat today, now I still stand behind what I said about Raw, but after watching ECW last night and reading the spoilers for Smackdown I feel so much better. My only main complaint about ECW other than we are stuck with Kozlov squashes again, is that the Evan Bourne is in a feud with Mark Henry. Now this isn’t against Henry but you talk about total opposites, that’s my complaint. I want to see Bourne go against high flyers not a big guy like Henry. But hey ECW was still a good show and I’m anxious to watch Smackdown and fill you in on my thoughts over the weekend. I apologize for my anti Raw column, but there’s always next week and maybe Raw will make a decent comeback. Okay look for me over the weekend if you dare.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
