It was the date that could have lived in infamy. The date promoted ambiguously 3 weeks ago and took over the minds of internet wrestling fans worldwide. Could it be? Would the man that SHOULD have taken down the nWo finally come to the WWE, a place he has avoided like the plague for his entire career? Well, given the final vignette shown just a week before, the chances were at about 0 percent. Still, some held out hope.
If you tuned in to see Sting be revealed to the WWE Universe for the first time, you were in for disappoinment. However, if you wanted some entertaining segments and the Wrestlemania card coming together, this show was probably pretty successful. Though there were certainly parts of this show that made no sense to me, we're finally beginning to understand the Wrestlemania card. Cena and Miz won the night before and thus will meet at Wrestlemania, 2/21 was revealed, and an ongoing feud was brought to a head between two men that most thought they'd never see in a wrestling ring.
As always though, we must ask: who was HOT and who was NOT? Some of these answers should be pretty obvious if you saw the show. If you haven't, you should probably do that. Until then, here's the lists:
HOT
1. John Cena - A week ago, everyone and their uncle was complaining that The Rock buried John Cena as the top talent in the WWE. Of course, the assumption was that The Rock's promo was untouchable and Cena could never match. Nevermind that Rock has said way worse about Stone Cold, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Kane, and more over his career, but THIS was an utter burial of Cena. Never fear, the Doctor is here! Cena brought out his rapping skills for just one night and boy did he deliver! I'm not going to say he should bring this back as a gimmick, but to have it in your back pocket is a great asset to have. His insults were probably better than Rock's (tough for this Rock mark to say!) and he definitely answered critics who said that nobody could answer The Rock. It was innuendo laced and perhaps pushed the boundaries of PG, but on the road to Wrestlemania, does it really matter? Cena's inevitable encounter with "the Great One" will sell Wrestlemania and his promo helped that even more. This promo alone puts Cena on top of this week's HOT list.
2. Undertaker/Triple H - Maybe if Sting was involved, this segment would be #1. As it stands, the segment was fantastic and without a word being spoken set up a main event caliber match at Wrestlemania. In a lot of ways, this match has potential to be incredible, especially if the rumored story will revolve around Taker's retiring of Hunter's best friend. It's two veterans clashing on the grandest stage of them all. Rock will be there too. Is this 1999? I digress. Still, this takes two guys who were out and puts them together so as not to upset the flow over everything else going on. It's a sound strategy, but ultimately it stinks for Wade Barrett and Sheamus who thought they might be squaring off with the two legends. Great segment though I kinda liked "ain't no grave" being played when Undertaker walked out. If his music wasn't so legendary, I'd say that it was such fitting theme music. Let's just see how this feud develops. I'm excited to see it, way moreso than Triple H/Sheamus 2 or Barrett/Taker.
3. Michael Cole - I was tempted to keep him off the list due to his off color remark about Jerry Lawler's mom, but I have to believe that the feud that's been going on for months isn't about that and it's just a comment that was approved by Lawler that was to get heat in the moment. I still don't like it, but what I do like is this feud. Announcer vs. announcer has NEVER been done before, so when we talk about new ideas being few and far between in wrestling, this is one of them. At the risk of degrading other WWE programming, I'd almost consider doing this match (if Michael Cole ever accepts instead of running away like a girl) as a "loser leaves Raw" match. The point of this is for Lawler to kick Cole's ass and we all hope that happens. Cole's mic work has been top notch throughout the whole thing and it was especially true on Monday. He's been great and this feud should go over very well despite the match payoff likely being craptastic. Sometimes though, that doesn't matter. This is one of those times.
NOT
1. Sheamus - Remember last year at this time when Sheamus had just lost the WWE toitle (the way he would say it of course!). This year, he's not one of the top two heels on Raw, but even worse, he got pinned by Mark Henry on Monday! Mark freakin Henry! I know it was due to his own stupidity and wasn't exactly "clean", but it's not good. Sheamus is a very talented guy with little direction at the moment. Maybe this thing with Daniel Bryan is the way, but will many see this as a step back for the Celtic Warrior? Maybe, but it's better than nothing right? I'd also like to add to the fire by reminding everyone that Mark Henry is known around WWE for having the worst body odor in the company. Now remember that Sheamus had to be caught in the air by him, slammed to the mat, and Henry had to lay on top of him for three seconds with that B.O. "It sucks to be me" award? You better believe it!
2. Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel - I haven't been one of those guys attacking the creative direction of the tag titles, but now I will. I understand that the point of this final segment was to push Miz/Cena. I also understand that main event exposure for Slater and Gabriel is a good thing. What I don't understand is why this duo actually needed to lose the belts? I get it from the perspective of building the Miz's arrogance, but it made the champs look awful! They lost in 3 minutes only to gain the belts back because Miz cost his teammate the belt! Not exactly a credibility booster there. I know wrestling is a business based on amnesia (often times history is ignored between competitors if enough time has passed), but this one wasn't good. It will be forgotten shortly, but not by me. As much as I like the build for the Miz/Cena feud, I hate that it came at the expense of these two. Give them a solid victory next week to regain some credibilty.
3. Kofi Kingston/John Morrison - I couldn't really decide between the two, but neither was really that bad. Morrison was selling injuries and lost as a result of that, while Kingston got mauled by the guy who's been kicking his ass recently. In both cases, it sucks to be them in the moment, but what worries me more is their future. My guess is that both will be in the Money in the Bank match at this point, which is fine. The problem is, they are becoming Shelton Benjamins in that both have their moments of greatness and you think they will get a push, but it ultimately leads nowhere in the end. Yes, they both electrify with big spots, especially in something like Money in the Bank, but will one win it this year? The hope is for Morrison to do so as he's really close to breaking that main event ceiling, but it's entirely possible for an up and coming heel to take it like last year. While that epically failed, the briefcase has been more useful for the bad guys over the years. If both men enter MITB and lose, I may have to finally lose hope for them. I don't want to do that for Morrison especially as I've really only recently began to become a fan of his, but it may have to be the case.
You know what, I take it back. Let's rekinkle at the end of 2011 to talk about where Morrison is at. If he hasn't held a title by then, we may have a problem. Until then, I'll reserve judgment.
In one program, we got build for Miz/Cena, Punk/Orton, Triple H/Undertaker, Cole/Lawler, and more. It was a sucessful Raw from that standpoint, but on wrestling it was weak. If next week they can continue to build while adding in some good matches, it will be a heck of a show. Either way, Wrestlemania is really beginning to take shape and I couldn't be more excited.
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