I haven't done one of these in a while so forgive me if I'm a bit rusty.
Anyway...*cracks knuckles* on to business. Let's look at last night's Raw.
Shane McMahon made his way down to the ring to start the show. I immediatly noticed two things. First, it's crazy how much Shane looks like his father and the second, he's fourty some-odd years old and he really needs to stop dancing. Seriously, when he was younger and doing the Mean Street Posse things, it was okay. Now it's just silly looking.
On his way to the ring we got a heavily edited video of last week's beatdown of Legacy which really served no purpose other than making Shane look better and Legacy look like even bigger chumps.
Shane jaws for a bit in the ring then announces that Randy Orton wants a match with him at No Way Out. Shane accepts and states that the match will be No Hold Barred. (Reviewer's side note: This means that Shane [the non-wrestler] will take a ridiculous beating from Randy Orton [the wrestler] that 90% of the WWE's roster couldn't take, get back up, lay a beat down on Orton until Priceless hits the ring to halp Randy beat the non-wrestler. Makes pefect sense.)
Orton then comes out and attempts to explain why Shane was able to beat up all of Legacy on his own. It's not a terrible explanation, but it doesn't change the fact that the beatdown never should have happened in the first place. Not right after the guy wins the Rumble. I don't like Orton but seriously, way to make half of your Wrestlemania main event look like a chump.
Randy then proceeds to the in what was an obvious set up for revenge and was as the whole thing took entirely too long. Too bad Shane didn't take that beatdown as as soon Rhodes and DiBiase hit the ring Shane produced a kendo stick to once again chase all of Legacy out of the ring. Now I know someone will say "He had a weapon!". Well yeah, he did. But it was still three on one against a guy with a weapon that wrestlers have been already shown to be able to take multiple shots with the stick anyway. The segment was still ridiculous and made Legacy look even worse.
First match on the show was Regal/Layly vs Punk/Mickie. I figured this match would've been used to give Punk a win back and some momentum after losing so handily to Jericho last wee. I was wrong. The match was terribly short, and while the finishing sequence was really good looking, they're still booking Punk very weakly. The beginning of his IC title reign has been no better than the beginning of his World title reign thus far, maybe worse. either way Regal and Layla pick up the win, and we'll see another Regal/Punk match next week.
After the commercial we get our second match of the night in Priceless versus Cryme Tyme. Again, I don't like Cryme Tyme, but the WWE keeps them because they're clearly popular with the fans. So why continue treating them like jobbers? Do something with them. Anyway, awful match. way too short to actually be anything and what exactly was the finish on that match? Priceless gets DQ'd for double teaming Shad? You mean the thing that every other tag team has done before and not gotten DQ'd for? Idiotic.
Jericho/Rourke package. I don't care, I had hoped for something more interesting for Jericho at WM, and he's coming down to the ring.
Jericho cuts an in-ring promo against Rourke and broken-down, has-been legends saying that some of them should be kicked out of the Hall of Fame. Good delivery on the promo but I still don't care. Cena interrupts and somehow manages not to use any verbiage too immature for a six year old to use and tell Jericho he'll knock his teeth down his throat later on.
In the surprise of the night Rey/Kofi vs Knox/Kane was a really good match. Its been said by quite a few so far but Kane and Knox worked really well together and the chokeslam on rey to end the match was awesome looking. Really enjoyable match and I'd like to see Kane/Knox team again to see if this could go anywhere.
Stephanie and Shane were shown walking backstage in the hallway, and again in way too bvious a fashion Shane was attacked by Legacy and actually beat down this time. Too little, too late. Orton goes to punt Shane, but instead changes his focus to Stephaine. Orton goes for the punt but Shane takes the bullet for Stephanie so to speak and Legacy is chased off by trainers. (Reviewer's note: Big deal. It took three guys in an ambush to get revenge. This does not make Legacy look any stronger.)
Next we get a bunch of mostly boring video packages and a useless match between Beth and Candace, Not gonna even bother.
The segment with JBL and HBK has me somewhat confused. I don't see why JBL would give Micheals that match. It mnakes much more sense for JBL to keep HBK in his employ and use him as he sees fit. I understand the thing about the rights to HBK and what not. It just doesn't make sense though that JBL would put Micheals in a position to walk away free and clear.
Afterwards Stephanie is shown talking to Kane. I actually liked this bit. Aside from the Undertaker has a telephone jokes it made sense. Kane is in the chamber now and Randy Orton has to deal with Undertaker. This would've been even better if Shane had've been shown to be weak so Stephanie recruited the Undertaker to do their dirty work, but still, I liked it.
The main event of the evening was the Jericho/Cena match. What can I say about this match other than shit sandwich. The match itself was okay but again they shoot themselves in the foot. This time with the ending sequence. Instead of making Cena look like his title could possibly be in danger at No Way Out they have him take the Walls of Jericho for a long period of time, Jericho's finisher. But Jericho taps out to the STF in two seconds. Oh yeah, and Attitude Adjuster? The name is reminiscent of Lex Luger's Attitude Adjustment pile driver and as a name it's lacking in dynamics. Anyway, I assume they'll change it again because the name didn't exactly roll off King's toungue when he said it.
After all that it was a pretty lackluster Raw in this writer's ever so humble opinion, but there were a few gems worth checking out if you can.
Anyway...*cracks knuckles* on to business. Let's look at last night's Raw.
Shane McMahon made his way down to the ring to start the show. I immediatly noticed two things. First, it's crazy how much Shane looks like his father and the second, he's fourty some-odd years old and he really needs to stop dancing. Seriously, when he was younger and doing the Mean Street Posse things, it was okay. Now it's just silly looking.
On his way to the ring we got a heavily edited video of last week's beatdown of Legacy which really served no purpose other than making Shane look better and Legacy look like even bigger chumps.
Shane jaws for a bit in the ring then announces that Randy Orton wants a match with him at No Way Out. Shane accepts and states that the match will be No Hold Barred. (Reviewer's side note: This means that Shane [the non-wrestler] will take a ridiculous beating from Randy Orton [the wrestler] that 90% of the WWE's roster couldn't take, get back up, lay a beat down on Orton until Priceless hits the ring to halp Randy beat the non-wrestler. Makes pefect sense.)
Orton then comes out and attempts to explain why Shane was able to beat up all of Legacy on his own. It's not a terrible explanation, but it doesn't change the fact that the beatdown never should have happened in the first place. Not right after the guy wins the Rumble. I don't like Orton but seriously, way to make half of your Wrestlemania main event look like a chump.
Randy then proceeds to the in what was an obvious set up for revenge and was as the whole thing took entirely too long. Too bad Shane didn't take that beatdown as as soon Rhodes and DiBiase hit the ring Shane produced a kendo stick to once again chase all of Legacy out of the ring. Now I know someone will say "He had a weapon!". Well yeah, he did. But it was still three on one against a guy with a weapon that wrestlers have been already shown to be able to take multiple shots with the stick anyway. The segment was still ridiculous and made Legacy look even worse.
First match on the show was Regal/Layly vs Punk/Mickie. I figured this match would've been used to give Punk a win back and some momentum after losing so handily to Jericho last wee. I was wrong. The match was terribly short, and while the finishing sequence was really good looking, they're still booking Punk very weakly. The beginning of his IC title reign has been no better than the beginning of his World title reign thus far, maybe worse. either way Regal and Layla pick up the win, and we'll see another Regal/Punk match next week.
After the commercial we get our second match of the night in Priceless versus Cryme Tyme. Again, I don't like Cryme Tyme, but the WWE keeps them because they're clearly popular with the fans. So why continue treating them like jobbers? Do something with them. Anyway, awful match. way too short to actually be anything and what exactly was the finish on that match? Priceless gets DQ'd for double teaming Shad? You mean the thing that every other tag team has done before and not gotten DQ'd for? Idiotic.
Jericho/Rourke package. I don't care, I had hoped for something more interesting for Jericho at WM, and he's coming down to the ring.
Jericho cuts an in-ring promo against Rourke and broken-down, has-been legends saying that some of them should be kicked out of the Hall of Fame. Good delivery on the promo but I still don't care. Cena interrupts and somehow manages not to use any verbiage too immature for a six year old to use and tell Jericho he'll knock his teeth down his throat later on.
In the surprise of the night Rey/Kofi vs Knox/Kane was a really good match. Its been said by quite a few so far but Kane and Knox worked really well together and the chokeslam on rey to end the match was awesome looking. Really enjoyable match and I'd like to see Kane/Knox team again to see if this could go anywhere.
Stephanie and Shane were shown walking backstage in the hallway, and again in way too bvious a fashion Shane was attacked by Legacy and actually beat down this time. Too little, too late. Orton goes to punt Shane, but instead changes his focus to Stephaine. Orton goes for the punt but Shane takes the bullet for Stephanie so to speak and Legacy is chased off by trainers. (Reviewer's note: Big deal. It took three guys in an ambush to get revenge. This does not make Legacy look any stronger.)
Next we get a bunch of mostly boring video packages and a useless match between Beth and Candace, Not gonna even bother.
The segment with JBL and HBK has me somewhat confused. I don't see why JBL would give Micheals that match. It mnakes much more sense for JBL to keep HBK in his employ and use him as he sees fit. I understand the thing about the rights to HBK and what not. It just doesn't make sense though that JBL would put Micheals in a position to walk away free and clear.
Afterwards Stephanie is shown talking to Kane. I actually liked this bit. Aside from the Undertaker has a telephone jokes it made sense. Kane is in the chamber now and Randy Orton has to deal with Undertaker. This would've been even better if Shane had've been shown to be weak so Stephanie recruited the Undertaker to do their dirty work, but still, I liked it.
The main event of the evening was the Jericho/Cena match. What can I say about this match other than shit sandwich. The match itself was okay but again they shoot themselves in the foot. This time with the ending sequence. Instead of making Cena look like his title could possibly be in danger at No Way Out they have him take the Walls of Jericho for a long period of time, Jericho's finisher. But Jericho taps out to the STF in two seconds. Oh yeah, and Attitude Adjuster? The name is reminiscent of Lex Luger's Attitude Adjustment pile driver and as a name it's lacking in dynamics. Anyway, I assume they'll change it again because the name didn't exactly roll off King's toungue when he said it.
After all that it was a pretty lackluster Raw in this writer's ever so humble opinion, but there were a few gems worth checking out if you can.
