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I have only one gripe.
Bobby Lashley's the ECW Champion, right? When's he gonna defend that ECW on ECW TV? Or against an ECW competitor? Or has the "Land of the Misfit Toys" of wrestling been reborn on Tuesday Nights again?
David Majors
Offutt AFB, NE by way of Detroit, MI
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Just some comments/questions.
When Shane McMahon said his family name was respected the world over, was he counting the celebrities who when asked about the hair vs. hair match, had NO idea who Vince McMahon was??
When the stipulations for Shane/Lashley were announced, did you think "Nope - neither one is going to happen??"
We're always hearing how Princess Steph is so much like her dad. I don't see her out there offering up her hair.
Just because Shane sent Umaga & Alejandro to the back early on, didn't you just know that they'd be back to interfere in the match??
After all, Shane is a McMahon. Being a lying bastard is in his genes.
The women's tag team match. Dear heavens, this was a good match. Candice is the least experienced wrestler of the 4, but even she is improving by leaps and bounds. I could see her being champion one day.
I'm so glad they played it straight with the kid from Make A Wish. I had nightmares wondering what kind of stupid b.s. angle they might come up with.
Carlito & Flair vs Cade & Murdoch. First Carlito is praising Flair, then after they lose, he's all pissy. Let the heel turn begin. I wonder if Torrie will stick with Carlito.
Orton vs HBK. First off- Michaels comes out to his old theme music, and ISN'T announced as a member of DX. Hmmmmm. Anyway, short version - they pinned each other. Both of their shoulders were down. This leads to something I predicted last week.
The Hardys beat the World's Greatest Tag Team. But how can they be the World's Greatest Tag Team if A: they're not the champs, and B: they just lost to the champs??
And the prediction cometh true. Even though many might've thought it, last week I said it. It will be a fatal four way match for the WWE title at Backlash.
Of course the Shane/Lashley match had to end with the standard McMahon family revenge bullshit. Why is Vince so bitchy?? His hair is coming back in already.
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Well, that was a pretty disappointing Raw.
We start off with a big announcement: another hair match, woooooo! Didn't we get enough of that nonsense in the last two or three months leading up to WM? Sheesh, is creative really THAT hard up for new ideas? Then later on we get to find out that Cade and Murdock are going to get to face the Hardys for the Tag Titles at Backlash. Huh?! Cade and Murdock? Watching them go up against Carlito and Flair and comparing it to the Hardys match later against TWGTT made Cade and Murdock look like the jokes they are. Why put the belts on the Hardys if they don't intend to give them any decent competition? So, at this point, I'm like getting down on Backlash in a hurry.
RKO vs HBK was really disappointing to me as well. The didn't do much more than a long series of rest holds. Edge coming down was hardly a surprise and he didn't really do much either. The whole bit went on so long it killed any suspense there might have been laying around. The ending was the best part where Randy and Shawn both fell with their shoulders on the mat but the follow-up "controversy" came off as poorly executed and even boring. I was like, just declare the fatal 4 way and be done with it already. Then the Cutting Edge turned out to be basically pointless and everybody, Cena, Edge and even HBK had a pretty off night on the mic (probably because they had no idea what they were supposed to be saying or doing) and the only good part about that situation was Orton came off unusually good on the mic by comparison. Mick Foley bringing out the little kid to upstage Coach was great however, and I have to give major kudos to the kid, he was the highlight of the show for me!
So then we get Shane and Lashley in the big, main event hair match. Again, everyone looks totally off, no real interesting spots and, Wow, big surprise, Umaga interjects himself into the match and Lashley gets a royal beat down. And then, another even bigger surprise Vince pops in, verbally degrades Lashley, participates in the beat-down and then declares that we are going to have to pay $50.00 to see this crap yet again at Backlash!
So, we now have 3 confirmed matches for Backlash and I am about as thrilled as a fly sitting on the wall watching the paint dry! (Old, dull-colored paint that I have watched dry a hundred times before, I might add.)
Sorry to be so negative, but after several weeks of really solid and interesting editions of Raw I guess I am a bit spoiled. I was hoping for better than we got handed tonight.
Callie Leo
New Orleans, LA.
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Thumbs in the middle teetering on down.
I like Shane McMahon stepping up to defend his family’s name until the hair stipulation it just gave away what was going to happen, which it did kinda.
The Diva’s match was fine they all looked great so that made up for the lack any real story. Mickie wants Melena’s title but what do Victoria and Candice have to do with it. They could do a Simple Melena Promise’s Victoria a title shot, Mickie promise’s Candice a title shot. It would at least give them a reason to be out there.
The Tag Match was solid. I've thought that Cade & Murdoch should be a top level tag team for a while now.
The #1 Contenders match was really good until the finish I understand it, but man do I hate these kind of finish’s
The Hardys vs. The World’s Greatest Tag Team was a disappointing. This could have been a great feud and we just saw squash.
The ECW Title vs. Hair match stunk, it just capped off a WTF?? Night.
You already had a double pin in your #1 contenders match and now we get a DQ in a hair match. And the guy with hair stip. Is the one DQ’d , Brilliant. Two shit finishes in one night.
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Say what you will about the WWE and the McMahon family, but what a great thing they did for Michael Pena. The fact that they allowed that boy to be so involved with their show means a lot. No matter what your criticism of the show this week, you have to admit that the WWE is definitely a class act.
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I felt Raw overall was a mixed bag. To the show -
The Opening Segment -
I liked that it was Shane who did the segment, I just don't like at all where it is going via the storyline. Shane can give an excellent promo and unlike his father he can back it up physically. When they announced Shane v. Umaga as the main event I had mixed feelings. I loved that I wasn't seeing Vince McMahon, I enjoy watching Shane and even watching Lashley on occasion, so that was okay, but I feel there is no need to continue the Lashley - Vince feud. I also do not understand why for two weeks in a row a non Raw title holder is closing out Raw. I fully understand with the PPV brand extension we are going to see a lot of crossover but there is no reason for other brand main eventers to be on any particular show as the headliner. The Shane smack to Estrada however was "absolutely perfect."
The Closing Segment -
Please, let's be honest here, it was a segment not a match so I was disappointed. Not that I didn't expect it to be exactly that. And I absolutely question the creative team in not only deciding that we are gonna see Umaga/Vince/Shane against Bobby Lashley at Backlash, because really who wants to see that match? But also why at backlash are we getting basically two 4 man bouts for world championships - is undertaker gonna have to face Batista, Finlay and Kennedy as well?
The Middle -
I cannot believe I am going to say this but to me the best match of the night was the first one, the women's tag match. Everyone here worked hard, really great performances. They also strived hard to each keep developing their character and put focus on the title belt in a tag match - really great stuff from Candice, Micke, Victoria, and Melina.
Hardyz and WGTT was way too short and kind of a squash but I guess it developed the once again tag team champs. But how could Jim Ross actually say (I am paraphrasing this is not a quote) That the Hardyz winning the tag team belts was a boost to the Hardyz spirits and to their careers? I love Jeff and Matt but to me this only elevates the belts not Jeff or Matt.
The Ric Flair/Carlito match against Cade and Murdock was really off to me. But more important than the match itself is the direction. Am I excited about Hardyz vs Cade and Murdoch, NO. Would I be excited about Hardyz vs. London and Kendrick - YES. So this is not a good direction and I guess we are pulling the trigger on Flair and Carlito which I think will be a good match at Backlash but in the past 3 months or so I have thought that trigger was being pulled like 500 times so I really don't count on it ever happening...
The Edge, Cena, Orton and Michaels stuff was good all the way through the show. The Orton and Michaels bout was really good stuff at points and I wish we would have had a clean victory. They could have worked it out next week on Raw to have the fatal 4 way at backlash without having to do the double pin spot - speaking of which - blame the ref for that monstrosity - it was pretty obvious that the ref who had been knocked down earlier in the bout was supposed to count WITH the other ref, by even WWE rules since only one ref counted there can be no argument, it is his decision. It was a HUGE mistake, I will give credit for trying to save it though. As far as the banter in the later segment, I don't know, to me all four of them are starting to sound like Charlie Brown's parents and teachers. Wah, wah, wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah -I think that's how it goes - loved Foley and the Make a wish kid!
Those are my main thoughts from Raw - I am out!
Joel Croyle - Wisconsin
