Last week I was ready to crack open champagne bottles and celebrate Raw actually being good for once. The show started off strong from start to finish and there was solid wrestling mixed in there too. I was happy and I was starting to think that maybe just maybe there was a sign of hope. That was until I watched tonight’s Raw and tried giving it every benefit of the doubt that I could think of, but it was all in vain. Even when you don’t compare it to last week’s Raw which did raise the bar pretty high, this was still weak and when you’re counting down and heading to Wrestlemania, the biggest PPV of the year and the biggest paycheck for most of that roster, you’re left with VERY little room for error.
The start of Raw was pretty strong as you had Triple H picking up exactly where Raw left off with last week. You had Triple H talking about firing John Laryngitis and for some reason they’re continuing that storyline. Why? I don’t have the slightest clue because honestly I think the ratings were going up in part because people want to see Johnny Boy gone from Raw and off of TV. You had Triple H clarify that he doesn’t want to fight The Undertaker at Mania again only to have Undertaker with a vignette on the TitanTron issuing the challenge and saying that he doesn’t want the legacy of the Phenom to be him being carried out and that last year’s win over Triple H because of that meant nothing. He issued the ultimatum for Triple H to give Taker his vengeance and in return, Triple H gets his shot at immortality. Let’s face it, we all know that is something that The Game would give anything and will go to any lengths to achieve and doesn’t want the one mark on his legacy to be that The Undertaker was the only one that The Game couldn’t stop. This segment, not the problem for Raw.
You had Big Show vs Daniel Bryan and continuing the whole storyline between the two and Daniel Bryan blaming Big Show for what happened to AJ. I know I’m not as detailed about this, but I’m pretty sick of this storyline and I’m trying to give Daniel Bryan’s character a chance considering that at least he has one, but this at the moment is pretty weak. Then you had David “Dead Weight” Otunga in street clothes taking on Sheamus. Yeah, way to build up Sheamus following his Rumble win. This match was just like every other they’ve given Sheamus as of late. It was throwing a porterhouse to a hungry dog. Seriously, if you want Sheamus to be billed a legit contender, stop throwing tackling dummies for opponents.
Chris Jericho’s segment I thought was great as he made his motives known and called everybody wannabes. Given, I thought using Kofi Kingston for an example was weak. I’m one of the few that liked when CM Punk came out, had the microphone and said nothing and just left like he was trying to get into Jericho’s head. And it worked because Jericho was fuming over it and Punk just ignored him completely. It was like Punk’s way of showing how easy it is to do what Jericho did to the crowd with the silent treatment and that as good as Jericho may have been at it, Punk is just simply better. This match is gonna be epic and it’s gonna be a money match. It could end up being the match much like Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage at Mania 3, But I’m sure the WWE is hoping that doesn’t happen considering they need The Rock vs John Cena to pay off and work.
Then you have Wade Barrett & Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton and……The Great Khali. Think really really carefully with this one and tell me which doesn’t belong. Why is Khali in the mix of this and why is he pinning Cody Rhodes? I have said some things about Wade Barrett and I stand by them. But even he has purpose in the WWE more than the Great Khali. Khali in the whole time he’s been there regardless of titles he has held has been 400 plus pounds of slow moving dead weight. Even they way he took an RKO was dumb. Waste of a match and an even bigger waste of the talent in the ring aside from Khali and one huge black eye for Cody Rhodes who is trying to climb up.
John Laryngitis returns and tells Triple H that there will be an announcement made tomorrow on if Johnny Boy stays or if Triple H goes. IF you listen really carefully you can hear the ratings start to drop. Shawn Michaels is announced for next week as well as Kane vs John Cena at Elimination Chamber in an Ambulance Match. Top that off with Triple H threatening John Laryngitis to where it leaves people wondering why the guy doesn’t just knock him on his ass already. As for the Cena vs. Kane match, you can call it a stretcher match or ambulance match it is still a street fight and just for show.
You had the six pack challenge with R-Truth getting hurt, Miz botching a move, the announcer botching the announcing and Jericho winning and stealing the match, further building up Punk vs Jericho. Then you had the whole Kane confronting Eve to further the embrace hate crap. I’m getting so sick of this angle to the point I don’t even care what Kane has to say anymore and up close, his new mask really does look stupid. At least his old one had some style to it with the scar marks or whatever they were, the point is that at least the mask showed something. This one really doesn’t show much of anything except a half-assed attempt.
How is it that Raw can come off as strong as it did last week and fall so short to where “lackluster” would be a compliment? It’s more than last week being after the PPV. You can’t afford any Raw to have shortcomings and just be lackluster. Not when you’re heading to Wrestlemania because every single move that is made heading into that PPV and building up stories counts and the mistakes there are made count just as much and will have an effect. Last week, we got something different and we got things changing while this week all we got was more of the same that we’ve seen for the last several months. I thought the WWE was starting to get it and the ratings were up last week and should’ve been enough of a sign. But oh no, we’re back to square one again. Well the nostalgia was fun while it lasted.
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