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I enjoyed tonight's Raw, BUT - JR might be the best announcer ever, but listening to his hoarse halfway gone voice for 2 hours kind of stretched the ol' patience. Anyway John Cena comes to the ring followed by HBK. Michaels comes off as a babyface sore loser, and the two are ready to have a rematch right then but then Captain Killjoy aka Jonathan Coachman reminds them that they're still the tag team champs, and they're going to participate in a 10 team battle royal(e) with competitors from all 3 brands starting......NOW. Short version, Cena & Michaels win. Coachman surprises them with ANOTHER 10 team battle royal(e). Partway through this one though, Michaels eliminates Cena, clearing the way for new champs in the form of the Hardy Boyz. I approve. By the way, since Joey Mercury was released from WWE, Nitro got to team with The Miz. Wow. Who did Nitro piss off??
Backstage we had the standard "Why did you do it" interview with HBK. He said the tag titles were distracting Cena. In comes Randy "I take 6 kinds of steroids" Orton. He said HBK had his chance, but it's his turn and Cena can't beat Orton. Wow. Can I have some of what Orton is smoking??
We go to a really stupid segment where the camera is Mr. McMahon's eyes, and he gets the reaction from some superstars backstage to his bald head. It's not like every single person who cares hasn't seen him bald already. Pointless. Then Curly goes to the ring wearing a hat. Usual bitter promo, saying he was officially reversing the Wrestlemania 23 decision and telling Lillian Garcia to announce such. As revenge upon Lashley, he ordered him to defend the ECW title against Umaga tonight. He also claimed that the hat was glued to his head (uh huh), and it wouldn't come off until his hair grew back. What, does it have a pop up timer like a turkey?? He also claimed his doctor said he has more testosterone than an entire prison. I wouldn't want to know how you measure something like that. After promising that he would NEVER be seen bald again, cue Bobby Lashley who removed the hat (damn inferior glue) and chased Vince around the ring as Vince used assorted means to hide his head. My favorite being when he got between Lillian Garcia's legs (get your minds out of the gutter) and hid under her skirt. That is until Lashley ripped the skirt away. Yummy.
Ric Flair & Carlito beat World's Greatest Tag Team. I guess they're holding off on the inevitable Carlito heel turn for awhile longer.
Todd Grisham interviewed Timbaland who rattled on for awhile before saying he was looking to have Ashley in a future project.
Out comes Melina (looking HHHHHHHOT) for a "photo op". Whatever. She gets on the mike and says SHE looks forward to being in Timbaland's video because she's beautiful AND dominant. Maybe we should ask Nitro about that. She said last night she proved Ashley is nothing more than a pretty face (TRUE) and being in Playboy isn't as important as being women's champ (UH NO). From behind comes Mickie James (also looking hot) who spears Melina then tornado DDTs her. Guess we know who the next feud is going to be with.
Mick Foley does a really nice commercial for the Make A Wish foundation. They showed clips of these special kids with assorted superstars. Foley says next week on Raw, a special wish will be granted. On a personal note - God help them if they turn this into some bullshit angle. There are certain things even WWE isn't allowed to exploit.
Great Khali squished Super Crazy. Duh.
Edge cuts a promo basically talking about how big bad and bitchin' he is for being at Raw after last night. OR - you weren't hurt near as bad as we would be led to believe, no matter how bad it looked. He talks about Orton and HBK challenging Cena, and how he's beaten all of them at some time or another. Okay another personal note - here's where the logic train jumps the tracks. Edge had his chance at winning the MITB match AND his Wrestlemania streak ended at the hands of Jeff Hardy, who was urged on by Matt Hardy. Does Edge want revenge on them?? Heck no. He's just going to insert himself in the next title hunt. Now if it were me, and I knew that I could get a title shot just by bitching a little, I would've forgone the whole MITB thing and avoided getting a ouchie the size of Texas. By the way - Next Raw PPV?? I feel a fatal fourway coming on.
Umaga and Estrada vs Lashley for the ECW title. Imagine a John Cena match where he gets whupped for 10 - 15 minutes, then comes back and wins the whole deal in a couple of minutes. That's basically what Lashley did tonight.
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I liked the opening promo between Cena and Michaels because it sets up a rematch at Backlash and I loved the shot Micheals took at the Hulkster brotha . Wow we got tag teams in the WWE and Cryme Time got their shot seriously I wont take this division seriously unless we see the Hardys vs teams like Cade and Murdoch, WGTT, Flair and Carlito, and maybe even London and Kendrick. So I guess because the WWE fears the net the Hardys are a team again. Who cares about Randy Orton no fire, no charisma, no nothing his appearance in the HBK interview made no sense. The whole backstage Coach and Vince thing wasn't funny ( I still like the Ron Simmons damn thing though because the crowd pops for it and I am a big Ron Simmons fan) and Vince's promo went on and on and on and on. But hey wouldn't any man want to have his head between Lilan's legs. Edge's promo was great but I hope they dont waste him in a feud vs Orton but really what other direction could they go with Edge at this point. Lashley vs Umaga was boring and we knew what was gonna happen as they are gonna ram his green ass down our throats. I thought this RAW was ok as but not great
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After their individual tribulations these last few years, The Hardys winning the tag-team titles made for a nice moment, almost making up for the ridiculousness of the back-to-back battle royale screwjob concept. Jonathan Coachman as Mr. McMahon's heinous right hand man just doesn't do anything for me.
Because Lashley-Umaga round 2 lacked the insane crash-to-the-floor bumps seen in their WM match, it made for a lets-see-what's-in-the-fridge main event. Seems like in this era of WWE, flash title changes (or any unexpected swerves for that matter) are a thing of the past, so Lashley's successful defense and subsequent humiliation of McMahon were forgone conclusions.
What I was to pleased to see is the slow souring of goody-two-shoes spirit-warrior Shawn Michaels. Five long years in the making, it looks like he's gonna go bad again, and to that I say hallelujah! Character-wise, HBK has always been more entertaining as a heel, and his colorful fed-up promo at the start the show nicely demonstrated this. The turn might be just the thing to spice up a WWE title scene that's been lacking a certain edge ever since, well, EDGE was removed from the championship picture.
However, based on the mildly unwelcoming reactions Cena's been receiving of late, I have to question whether Creative is turning the right man. If WWE is set on, as Buck Woodward put it, Cena leading the company into its next boom period, oughtn't they tweak his character instead of Michaels'? Through little fault of his own, Cena has still, in two years time, yet to get his jokey-yet-intense "Marine"/Company-Pitchman character over with the male majority of the audience. Investing that character with a bad attitude might be the only thing that gains him the popularity vote any time soon. All I know is: like him or hate him, Cena's main-event domination has gotten McMahon-Helmsley-Era tedious!
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Well maybe I have a selective memory, but after an enjoyable, if not "Wrestlemania Moment" filled pay-per-view this just sucked.
I recorded Raw instead of staying up till 4am here in the UK and I'm glad I did as it meant I could fast forward through most of it. In fact I think I spent more time fast forwarding then actually watching anything.
First they degrade the tag belts even more by having HBK and Cena have to fight 19 other teams before they lose the title and even then, nobody eliminated the champs, HBK did it. Am I the only one who thought Brian Kendrick was not meant to eliminate himself when he did?
The bald Vince segment was just appalling and predictable. Super Crazy was the latest to be fed to Khali. Flair/Carlito vs Haas/Benjamin went to show that good wrestlers without a storyline make a bleh match.
At least we got the start of a "new" feud with Melina and Mickey.
Finally, after what I thought was a good Mania match between Umaga and Lashley, they spoil it with a plodding, heatless match.
Next week, I'll be in Spain, but I'm going to save my videotape for 24 and just read the Raw results on PWInsider...
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While not having a practiced eye for this sort of thing, it looked as though Umaga almost or completely missed three blows during the match. Perhaps High Definition would not be an advantage in watching wrestling.
Jim Ross was in no shape to do play by play commentary, it was most regrettable that only Lawler took over at the end, and performed no better than the match. He should devote his skills entirely to colour commentary.
The Edge promo did little for me. While he showed great perseverance in making it to the show, it seemed he had little to say that has not been mentioned before.
If Michaels was going to remove Cena from the battle royal, he should have done it in the first segment instead of the second. The Hardys could thus have been among the first set of challengers, and we would have been spared several minutes of action that did not enhance anyone.
Mr. McMahon came across as a self-absorbed idiot. He also needs a new haberdasher.
(Mr.) Timbalake, if he claims to be just a wrestling fan, should not have been promoting himself.
Following what has been described as a good pay per view, I feel this Raw was anything but good.
Ray Barnes
Surrey BC Canada
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Did they people that voted on the Poll that Raw was excellent or good watch the same Raw I was watching? That might have been the worst Raw I have ever watched and that is including the one a few years ago when they wasted a whole hour when the New Age Outlaws threw Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie off the stage in a dumpster. One match in like the first hour ten minutes. And it was two stupid battle royals. Damn, I wish I would have watched the NCAA championship game.
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Creative has lived up to their title and found new ways to devalue my $50. Not only got a replay of Lashley - Umaga, yawn, but almost every other wrestler that was on Mania was on TV. Edge walks out and does a promo after getting "killed" and Jeff Hardy is in good enough shape to win a tag title? yuck
