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They actually put on a decent RAW tonight. Nothing on there except the Eugene and Crime Time segments were bad. I liked that Chris Masters tapped out to his own Master Lock. I wonder now if that means when he uses it if it will be credible now. All of the matches in the ring had solid work rate. I was not a fan of WWE using the race card again with Shelton Benjamin. Do not even get me started with the Eugene segment. We all knew this was coming. However, EugeneR17;s heel turn is being done to make him be mentally retarded or insane? That is wrong on a lot of levels. My money says Buck Woodward is watching this and is seething. I think this was a good show except for that. A solid “Bâ€ÂÂÂ.
Jeff Payton
Chattanooga, Tennessee
**********
Tonight’s edition of Raw was nothing new. I wasn’t blown away by any match, any stipulation or any storyline. None of it was heinous, but none of it makes me ever want to sacrifice anything important I have planned to watch Raw. Everything was so boring, and I found myself struggling to get through the main event.
It seems that there is a new focus on tag teams. The Highlanders got the sentimental push of the night, Cryme Time received significant air time in their silly (albeit a bit long) vignette at the nursing home, and there was definitely the tease of reuniting the World’s Greatest Tag Team. Combine that with the four tag teams in the main event, and it looks like there’s a division.
The problem with a potentially-rebuilt tag team division is it leaves Raw in the state that we saw it tonight with no serious contenders for John Cena’s belt. In fact, it’s a bit peculiar that the WWE Championship “match†was a.) no longer than five minutes and b.) in the middle of the show. Now that Chris Masters has had the Masterlock broken, he’s got nothing. Characters like Viscera, Super Crazy, and even Carlito just seem to be thrown into two-week storylines and immediately forgotten. If anything can be said about the current affairs of Raw, it’s that there’s no build-up to anything. Instead of being each pay-per-view being a climax to a story, they are merely chapters in a serial that seems to never end.
Sadly, the only match that I can honestly say that I am halfway looking forward to at New Year’s Revolution is Mickie James vs. Victoria as we can at least seem a decent build to a match. Everything else seems so repetitive (DX vs. Team RKO, Cena vs. Umaga, Carlito scoring with a girl, etc.) or is so completely dull (Cade and Murdoch, Coach and Ric Flair) that these two girls could steal the show.
I enjoy Raw; I think there are some problems, but normally, they are problems I could deal with. Tonight’s was so unorganized that I found the back of my eyelids more exciting than the programming.
Wyatt Angle
Bowling Green, Ohio
**********
At least I didn't pay $40 for this show.
John
