I've had a lot of e-mails and comments the last couple of days asking me if I agreed with them that Raw was great. Well, I surprise myself a little by saying...yes!
Sure, the show lacked matches given that it was just under three hours long, and of course there was a lot of nostalgia, but just about every segment featuring the stars of yesterday was also used to either directly promote a match at Armageddon, or the commentary team or graphics department was plugging the show.
Only two segments really didn't do much to hype Armageddon. Now I realise that all not segments were going to and, as repetitive as it was, I will not complain about the ending of the show as we all knew it was going to happen. The other segment was the beginning. I wont be too negative as it was still entertaining for the most part, but it went on a little too long for me - especially given that it didn't really serve a purpose other than for Steph to come out and kiss Triple H (Is that supposed to be all out in the open now then?).
It was good to see the McMahon's together again, and they all seemed really happy to be there (where was Lynda), and boy, did Hornswoggle get the pop of the night!? This guy seemed to be over big time on Monday.
When Triple H came out things did get more entertaining and how great did Sunny look? Last time I saw her she looked terrible but she has really got herself together now. Unfortunately, the segment went a bit sour when Mae Young came out. It wasn't anything too terrible though.
Up next was the match of the night. Jeff and Carlito put on a hell of a ladder match. It may have worked better with a little heat behind it and at times the two did seem to just be working spots without any actual chaining together, but it was still entertaining as hell and the two worked there asses off for the crowd; especially Jeff who took some nasty falls despite a big match at Armageddon (shouldn't Triple H have been a big match like this as well?), not that I'm discount the bumps that Carlito took. Carlito looks like he is staying on in the company now, and this could have been his proving match - I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Carlito as the next challenger to Jeff's Intercontinental championship after this Sunday.
Following a quick interview with HBK, we have Santino Marella in the ring with Maria. He has apparently issued an open challenge, but he is quickly cut off by RVD (was this a little too early?). RVD, who got a hell of a reception, wiped the floor with Santino in under a minute. RVD looked great and it was nice to see him in the ring, but this segment didn't really do much for anyone. If RVD is one his way back, then it is a great way to remind us of him, and I did enjoy the segment but it didn't exactly make Santino look great and no other heels came out to beat him up afterwards; which would have at least benefited someone.
The next part of the show was the perfect blend of nostalgia (even if the faction isn't that old) and build up for the PPV. I was so glad that the Evolution segment was done this way. The three babyfaces got together first before Orton came out and reminded them of what they did to him. Before he could get any sympathy though, he brought out Edge and Umaga to challenge them to a match. This made complete sense as Orton has recently teamed with both men and it incorporated both the main Smackdown feud, and the next (and ongoing, I guess) Raw feud between Orton and HHH. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Vince put Flair against Umaga soon either, to try and make him lose.
The actual match wasn't anything complex but no one seemed to care as the actual occurrence seemed to bring enough entertainment to the table. The faces won by DQ (though King had already mentioned that Flair could only be retired in a singles match) and then each took out Umaga with their finishers. I was expecting some sort of big interaction between Batista and Triple H if I am honest. I thought maybe they would squabble over who got to hit his finisher on Umaga, but in the end they just shook hands. Oh well, we will probably see it at Armageddon or the Rumble instead.
Hornswoggle took on Khali, and Regal had confirmed that Finlay was not going to be around to save him. I think everyone knew what was going to happen here, so we all took it for what it was. Sure enough, Hogan came out after Khali started to gain the advantage on the little guy. He hit a couple of his usual moves but sends Khali flying out of the ring before he can go for the leg drop. I am not sure if this is the stepping stone to a bigger match (no body slam, no leg drop) but I wouldn't be surprised either way as I am sure that Vince thinks that this match will sell tickets whenever it takes place.
The Battle Royal was fun. It was great to see so many of these guys back, but at the same time it was nice to see them confined into one segment. I couldn't help myself laughing at Gillberg and some of the other crazy characters that we have seen over the years. I was slightly surprised when IRS won the match, but not when DiBiase came out and bought the match from him - excellent! I am a huge fan of DiBiase and it brought a huge smile to my face to hear him laughing after paying off the shyster.
Up next was another segment that did just enough for Armageddon. Bischoff came out to slag off Raw (rightly so, it would have made no sense for him to support it - even if he was the general manager for a while) and was interrupted by Jericho. The two of them bounced off each other very nicely and showed a lot of charisma. Jericho eventually takes Bischoff out with what looked like quite a stiff right hand before Orton ran down to jump him. Jericho counters him though and locks him in the Walls. I don't really like the Boston crab version of the move but it was nice to see that he is still going to use it, and not just his new finisher - which doesn't look quite as good as he thinks it does. Orton and Jericho stared each other down afterwards and this feud has gained quite a bit of intensity. It is a shame that Jericho is more than likely going to be brushed aside on Sunday, to make room for Triple H at the top.
The Dream sits on commentary whilst his son teams with Hardcore Holly to take the tag titles away from Cade and Murdoch. The match itself was OK, but it seemed like Holly did all of the work, and the (now ex) champions didn't look too strong at all. Dusty seemed a bit off form on commentary; he has always been a great talker and he has always had his unique style, but he didn't really seem to be making a lot of sense at all here.
It's a shame about the storyline with Rhodes and Holly, and with the feud they had with Cade and Murdoch. It was both interesting and it was becoming a prominent storyline on Raw. But it just seemed to be suddenly dropped from the show and we just got big matches between them with no real build up. We may see more of the newer team now that they have won the titles, but I just can't see the storyline they had being quite as effective now they are the champions. Of course, the whole thing will probably explode in the future, when they lose the titles, and we will see Holly turn heel and another singles feud develop (it would be nice to see young Cody try out as a heel though).
Jillian plugs her i-tunes album before she is taken out by Trish and Lita. I wouldn't have picked Jillian for this segment (and I certainly wouldn't have had her sing). I would rather have seen someone more relevant, like Beth Phoenix. I also laughed when Lita told her that she had an annoying voice - I wouldn't want to be the judge in a contest between those two for annoying voices. Trish seemed to be really enjoying herself out there too and she has certainly developed into quite a talker; she did look awfully slim as well though.
The main event match saw Mr. Kennedy beat Marty Jannetty. This match was a great choice to build up the HBK-Kennedy feud, but it just didn't come off as well as expected. Jannetty may have lost a step since his last quick WWE run but Kennedy also seemed to have dropped down a peg or two again. The match seemed very slow and certainly lacked fluidity. The ending picked up a bit of pace but then seemed to stop dead until Kennedy picked up the win with some sort of face plant DDT. Afterwards, Kennedy continued his assault until HBK got rid of him. Obviously this made complete sense but what I didn't like was seeing Triple H come out again. There was too much of him tonight and whilst it made sense to put DX back together for a couple of minutes, it just seemed really strange to have DX all happy and smiling in the middle of the ring, whilst Marty Jannetty was out on the floor - especially given that HBK actually came out to help him.
The show ended with the aforementioned beat down of Vince and the beer bash. First Mankind, then Undertaker and finally Stone Cold came out and hit finishers on the chairman of the board after he announced himself as the greatest Raw star. Austin then countered by saying the fans were the greatest stars, before every superstar came out to drink a beer with him (except Regal, who had a coke!). The segment didn't run too long, except perhaps for Taker entrance, and it was entertaining too. Vince got what was coming to him and the fans got a happy-smiley send off from the show. Everybody wins.
So, Raw did everything pretty damn well. There was nostalgia and there was hype. There were matches and there were video packages, backstage skits and in-ring face offs. There were divas and there were McMahon's. I feared the worst after the opening segment; not because it was terrible but because it was not what I was hoping for, however, the show picked up steam and I was thoroughly entertained for the full three hour duration. Not a bad job at all.
Thanks again for taking the time to read, any thoughts, arguments, criticisms or questions are always welcome, feel free to contact me at batista666@hotmail.com (I use this e-mail just for my writing and check it regularly).