Was this the Raw where we'd finally move in a new direction? Thankfully, the answwer to that question is yes!
For those that didn't see Over The Limit or read my Rate The Booking about that show, the two remaining feuds from Wrestlemania season were wrapped up in convincing fashion. Finally, Wrestlemania season could be swept under the rug as we moved on to new and hopefully exciting things.
This show was packed with new angles and interesting segments, but the wrestling was a little on the skim side. For one week, I'll forgive it since I've been begging for the show to have more direction. Heck, this might be the most shocking HOT or NOT I've ever written. I'm even surprised by some of my selections! Let's get right to who was HOT and who was NOT this week:
HOT
1. Alex Riley - I kind of saw this one coming, but I certainly couldn't have predicted how well the angle would play out. The attack on Miz after all of his berating was fantastic and to hear a "Riley Riley" chant from any crowd is nothing short of shocking. That's the sign of a well done segment and one of the best face turns I can remember. It's weird to think about this because Alex Riley always screamed "douchebag" to me, but if this "chump no more" story works, we could be looking at a pretty solid babyface on the Raw roster. I expect The Miz to carry this feud, but Riley can certainly hold his own. He's a little green, but the raw skills are there. It should be interesting to see what he can do with the training wheels off. This is one program I'm quite excited to see.
2. Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga - Ladies and gentlemen, the generic Hennig son and the "potential-laden" A-lister are your new tag team champions. Maybe I should be mad, but this actually makes a lot of sense. I complained in the Rate the Booking that these two should have gotten the title shot at that event, but it was their Nexus counterparts that got them and lost. Now, it seems the right guys got the shot and they won again. Two victories over the monster duo is a good way to kick of a title reign. I just hope they do more with the belts than former Nexus members Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater.
3. Bret Hart - Honestly, I have no reason to give The Hitman this spot other than the obvious one........because he's Bret Hart. Having Hart on Raw every now and again is fun, and he was fired up for this show. No one else really stood out, so why not give this spot to "The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be"? I felt that he was one of the highlights of the show, as he always will be, provided he continues to only appear a couple of times a year at best. His appearance last night was just a treat for an old school fan like myself. Wouldn't mind a Hart/Austin confrontation in the coming weeks though......
NOT
1. The Big Show - This week's "it sucks to be me" award had to be altered at the big and tall store. Yes, the biggest man on the roster was the biggest loser this week, and not the good kind like on NBC. This man lost his tag team championship and in venting his frustrations was bated into being run into by a car. Oddly enough, he didn't seem that hurt by it, so it remains to be seen whether this "accident" will keep him off the show any. If it doesn't, it looks to be the start of a feud with Alberto Del Rio. Color me unexcited. Since Big Show's return to the WWE in late 2007, his best moments have all been as part of tag teams. This is where he should be used at this point and I hope for that to continue somehow. Team with Evan Bourne for all I care, but don't be a singles guy! He hasn't had a good singles match in years so any feud with him will have a lousy payoff. Thus, tag team competition is the way to go. The way not to go? In front of a moving vehicle......
2. Kharma - When I watched this segment live on Monday, I had no idea what to think. After all the attacks, I figured the payoff would be tonight once I saw Beth Phoenix in the ring. I pictured all the Divas either running scared or trying to attack Kharma and getting tossed around until an idle Beth stood up to her. Kharma would laugh at her but Beth would just pick up Kharma and slam her to the mat. This would set up the feud we've been waiting for and would bring a bit of relevance to the Divas division. It was not to be though as Kharma broke down crying before administering any more pain. There is a story behind this and I will discuss it in another article, but watching it live, I had no idea what I was watching. It was a weird segment to say the least, but weird in a way that didn't seem to have a future. Let's just say that Kharma had looked great until that moment, but that the moment you saw had to happen as it did. More on that later.
3. Drew McIntyre - It's been a bad week for the not-so-sinster Scottsman. Something happened in his personal life that sucks (to be discussed in another article....stay tuned!), but we'll focuc on his career and on Monday. In fairness, he actually looked pretty good in his first singles match on Raw, but he took the loss to Kofi Kingston after focusing his offense properly. The match was good, but it seems pretty clear that this once promising star (rumors were that he was going to win the MITB instead of Swagger at Wrestlemania 26) is not in line for any sort of push. If he were, I think he would have been left on Smackdown where he could have been considered a top level heel right away. On Raw, he's barely a top 10 heel and seemingly just fodder for the faces to beat. This guy does have talent, but he's going to have to do something special to get back in the good graces of the WWE officials and WWE universe.
It was quite a shocking week in terms of who appeared on these lists, but I consider that a good thing. It means that the WWE tried some new things this week for better or worse. I'm excited about at least one storyline and certainly excited about a couple more characters. The landscape has been altered a bit and in the world of wrestling, that is always a good thing for the fans. I'll be going to Raw in a couple of weeks so I hope to see these stories develop until then. If they do, it should be one hell of a show. Oh yea, Stone Cold will be there too!
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