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In the wake of CM Punk’s World Title win, as well as the fact that Raw seems to have changed direction to feature more younger stars in important positions, I decided that for a couple of weeks, I’d give WWE TV another chance. If it turns out that a month from now, we’re back to the same old people dominating the show, then I’ll tune out quickly and it’ll probably be another several years before I give them another chance. For now, though, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and see what Raw, ECW, and Smackdown have to offer, and I decided that in the interest of me loving to talk, I’d share my thoughts on this week’s TV with you, the readers of PWInsider Xtra.
Monday Night Raw - 6/30/2008
Obviously the big angle on Raw was the ascension of CM Punk to World Champion. I’ve already written a whole article about this and you can go check it out if you want to know my full thoughts, but suffice it to say here that I was very happy to see him get the title and I think making him champion and the leader of the Raw youth movement is a great idea. To really start a “new breed†you need a new guy leading the group, and as much as WWE obviously loves John Cena, he’s been around for a while and wouldn’t really fit in with such a group, and neither would guys like Kennedy, Orton, and especially Batista. We’ll see how long it lasts, but for now it’s looking good.
This was my first opportunity to see Jillian Hall and her terrible singing gimmick, and I loved it. The homage to Brooke Hogan probably isn’t apparent to anyone who doesn’t go on the internet, and it certainly wouldn’t have been to me, but I thought she was hilarious and I think it’s the kind of thing that would appeal to wrestling fans’ girlfriends, especially the ones who (like every girlfriend I’ve ever had) love to bag on wrestling for any reason they can come up with. She’s obviously one of those instances of entertainment before wrestling, but she looked good during the match as well.
After watching the JBL interview where he challenged Punk, I can see why everybody’s hearts dropped the moment the words came out of him mouth. Thankfully, they did the right thing, but I have to think that part of the reason they did that angle with JBL was because they knew how much we would hate to see him get the title and wanted to throw a scare into us. The thing that nobody seems to have made mention of is that they successfully worked the smart fans and made us buy into something. As “smart internet fansâ€, we’ve conditioned ourselves to believe that there’s nothing in wrestling that can surprise us or get us to react with anything other than “you f---ed up†chants, but they got a legit reaction out of all of us on Monday night, and in an era where the fans are all privy to the inside workings of the business (or think they are), you have to take a different angle to work them and WWE did it on Raw.
I liked Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase’s promo after their squash match. For one, I thought it was cool to see a squash match on Raw because you just don’t see that very often anymore, and it’s a good way to get the new champions off to a strong start. Cody Rhodes works well as a heel and obviously has inherited at least some of his father’s promo talent. I especially loved the line about “when you have this much talent, you don’t pay dues.†Tremendous stuff.
Okay, complaint time. Am I the only one who thought it was incredibly lame for Chris Jericho to get disqualified for pulling Kofi Kingston’s tights of all things? Yes, it’s dishonest, but in an era where people are often allowed to jump in the ring and physically interact with the wrestlers, bring chairs into the ring and use them, and lay out referees, all without being disqualified, doesn’t pulling the trunks seem like kind of a light offense to get hit with a DQ? Furthermore, Kofi Kingston did it first and the referee didn’t catch him. Does this mean Kofi is going to be doing Eddy Guerrero’s lie, cheat, and steal gimmick?
Overall, awesome show and I’m really glad I got a chance to watch it. I’ll definitely give Raw another chance next week.
ECW On Sci-Fi - 7/1/2008
I think Mark Henry’s going to work out well as ECW Champion. He’s a big, strong guy who is perfect to take the role of unstoppable monster in the brand that’s basically made up of an over-the-hill Tommy Dreamer and a bunch of low level guys just out of developmental. I dug his promo as the cocky, confident champion who knows nobody on the brand can beat him, I had frankly forgotten that he’s a pretty decent talker because he’s usually just sent out there to destroy. Also, he just deserves it because he’s been through a lot of injuries, as well as a lot of really bad booking, and the fact that he’s still around after 12 years and in the position he’s in should be rewarded.
Atlas Ortiz looked good, but the guy really needs to learn how to sell. Armando was hitting him and he’d slowly turn around and walk away with his head down like he was about to sneeze. One of the major problems I saw was that Armando was working over his arm the entire match, and then he came back and started giving Armando armgdrags…with the bad arm, and then beat him with a backslide, a move which in large part requires the use of the arm that was injured. Not very good and quite frankly I expect better of guys who have been through WWE developmental. Also, he’d do well to stop calling spots in plain view of the camera, and especially stop looking at his opponent while he calls spots on camera. He might as well just get tights that say “WRESTLING IS FAKE†written on the ass. Then again, hey, new indy gimmick idea?
This was also my first chance to see Armando wrestle, and I was pretty impressed with what I saw. I already knew the guy could talk, that’s plain to see. But Armando has an amazing physique, and it struck me as odd that a promotion that’s as big on appearance as WWE would hide a body like that. I liked the way he worked over the arm the entire match, showing that he learned a little bit of that psychology that Atlas Ortiz apparently missed the class on.
Overall, a pretty bland show. I liked Mark Henry and Armando looked good too, but other than that everything else kind of bored me. I’ll give it another shot next week, if for no other reason than I can watch it on my computer at lunch.
Friday Night Smackdown - 7/4/2008
I really liked the wrestling on this show. Jeff Hardy vs John Morrison was really good, it had good psychology and they were given enough time to tell a good story with their match. The main event Fatal Fourth Of July Way was good too, very fast paced and made Matt Hardy look strong by picking up a win over those three.
Another thing I really liked about Smackdown is that I really enjoyed the combination of Jim Ross and Mick Foley on commentary. For the first time in many, many years I felt like I was listening to two guys announcing a wrestling show instead of a nonstop hype machine. Mick Foley’s got that great, Jesse Ventura-esque talent for making little side tangents without straying too far from what’s going on in the ring, and Jim Ross seemed happy to be calling wrestling again.
I am NOT a fan of the Divas Title belt. It looks like some trampy decoration that slutty high school girls would pick up at Hot Topic. If Natalya Neidhart does not win the title on the date to be determined, I am going to be one annoyed internet mark.
Umaga looked strong in squashing Funaki. Pretty much everyone agreed that a move to Smackdown was what Umaga needed, and they got him off to a good start.
This was my first chance to see the Edge-Vickie storyline play out at all and I have to admit, I expected Vickie to suck hardcore (as an actress, of course), but I thought she was really entertaining and I loved the fit she threw at the end of the show. It reminded me of my ex-girlfriend after I dumped her and before she punched me and started yanking my hair out. Edge has really perfected the twin arts of looking frustrated and coming off like a really sleazy, scummy, womanizing jerk.
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Well, so far so good after week #1. Raw and Smackdown were both really fun to watch, and I’ll give ECW another shot since it’ll give me a way to kill time at work. I’m interested to hear what you all think, so send your thoughts on the shows to stupwinsider@yahoo.com and let me know your thoughts on the shows. Thanks for reading!
