Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
The Spot Fest
Monday Night RAW- 9/29/08
by: Michael C.
Grimaldi
http://www.carltonprescott.com
High Spots:
Jamie Noble and
Mickie James vs. Paul Burchill & Katie Lea-
Unlike a lot of matches with women in the WWE, I don't feel an injury coming
every time with Mickie or Katie Lea. Katie isn't great, but has the basics.
Noble and Burchill's interaction during the match was brief, but fun. I would
put Burchill's push...or lack thereof in the "botched spots" category, but at
least he lost in a match that furthered a program, even if it's not his and a
mid card one.
Lance Cade's Promo- He didn't
say anything that you'll remember, but he also didn't screw up. While "blinded"
by his faith in Jericho, he still seems competent and not just along for the
ride long term. I don't know if I'd put his rip off Rage Against the Machine
music here yet, but it's an improvement.
8 Man Tag- The high spots (no pun
intended) that took the match to the commercial break were well done. Bourne
got crazy height on his assisted tope on Manu. Punk and Kofi's dives through
the ropes also looked good. The middle of the match was a tad too typical of
WWE tag matches, but throughout the match, there was good energy from all and
the finish made Kane come off looking like the monster he is supposed to be.
Adamle/Orton/JBL promo- Yes, I'm
intentionally not including Batista in this. I am intrigued by the Orton
dynamic. In fact, with Punk's push hitting the skids and Michaels/Jericho
having had the personal part of their feud hit it's crescendo, it's really the
most interesting part of RAW. Will there be repercussions for him bad mouthing
Shane? Will Adamle acquiesce to Orton's demands? JBL's part of this was
very...real. He seriously has to be pissed off about the market and economy,
and I don't mind him using it for heat. He's supposed to be a bully, so believe
what you want for the economic problems the US has, blaming "poor" people is
just another side of being a bully. JBL was all full of piss and vinegar here
and it was much better than his usual stock lines.
DX vs. Jericho/Cade- The DX
thing popped the crowd. The long term sensible booking here would be to elevate
someone along side Michaels, but this was a push for the Smackdown move and the
PPV, so this time, I'll forgive it. Also, Cade may have taken then beatdown
afterwards, but he was far from squashed, which was a fear when he comes into a
match fresh off a pin of Michaels and Triple H on the other side of the ring.
Jericho's half hearted call, "come on Cade" for Lance to join him on the
ramp after Jericho bailed on him and left him 2 on 1, was something so little 1%
of viewers probably heard it...yet it fit Jericho's current character perfectly.
Dirk Ziggler- Okay, before you
say, "Huh?" Look, Nick Nemeth has had WAY TOO MANY gimmicks for a guy who has
never shown a ton of talent. Why this gets a "high spot" is simple. Jillian
made me laugh. Why? Because there have been a few times for me and I'm sure
tons for people who are actually in the wrestling business, where in a wrestling
locker room, someone will introduce themselves to you using their retarded ass
gimmicked name that is so stupid it makes you do a double take. So, while it's
too inside to be anything to a lot of people, I found humor in it.
Botched Spots:
Santino and
Beth- There's
losing steam...quickly. They turned the switch on the awkward relationship into
just a pussified boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Throwing in a potential
"other" woman isn't the answer. The ship to make this work long term may have
already sailed.
Batista in the Adamle/Orton/JBL promo-
I believe Batista had 17 words (taking into consideration of contractions being
one word) to say...and he still stumbled. Keep him away from a mic! PLEASE!
Candace/Kelly vs. Jillian/Beth- I
counted 3 times Candace's face hit the mat flush. The girl has no idea how to
protect herself in the ring. If you can't even protect yourself, how are you
supposed to protect your opponent? I find it very disconcerting that she is in
high profile matches when she clearly does not know what she is doing. She's
super hot, but she's either going to get hurt again or hurt someone else and I
am saying right now, when that happens, WWE has no one to blame but themselves.
Sloppy match over all that was exposed with two "greener than Tommy Noe's grass"
(RIP Candido) women.
CM Punk's Push- Where did you
go? At least Orton sort of reminded us he and Punk have a beef. Still, Punk
seems more destined to tag matches with Kofi against Rhodes and DiBiase than he
does coming close to the top of the card again, at least for the near future.
Rest Holds:
Batista vs.
Santino- This
was fine...I had nothing against it, but it didn't tell me anything about either
I already didn't know. Does Batista have to ALWAYS look early when he's getting
attacked from behind?
JTG vs. The Miz- The match itself
was decent, the "toilet humor" about bowel movements was lame. Lawler asked
Cole, "you actually found that funny?" Sadly he meant it as questioning the
insult to Cryme Tyme, not the bad, lame joke. Unless there four have a great
match, it's hard to elevate this above a "just there" moment since it's a feud
based on internet shows.
Deuce vs. The Great Charli- I
like Haas...I do. I don't even mind him having to resort to this character to
get TV time, but I just don't think this deserves more than 2 minutes per show.
Results:
Check out http://www.carltonprescott.com for RAW, ECW, and Smackdown reports as well as NCAA Football, MLB, NFL, Politics, humor, NHL, and much more!
