This is such an important time for the WWE. On top of building towards the biggest show of the year which will be at one of the coolest new sports venues in the world, next week will have the added element of an upstart company going head to head with Raw. Although I have no doubts that WWE's ratings will be just fine and that Wrestlemania's buyrate will be fine, this is still the time to put on high quality TV. While some segments on this show were some of the best that I may have ever seen, there were others that were just plain awful. Luckily though, the good outweighed the bad as the Wrestlemania picture was made a lot clearer on this episode. Let's take a look back on the Raw that was:
The show began with the Showstopper, Shawn Michaels. Before he starts his promo, a video recap airs to make sure everyone knows exactly where his story with the Undertaker is at. Of course, the video was similar to the previous one that I praised, but had a different song which made it so much worse! The first song was amazing! I understand the need to try a new song, but this new one is awful. I hope that when the match happens at Wrestlemania, the video that airs to hype it at the event is the one from last week with that song. As for what Shawn had to say, he questioned the guys in the back who think he's crazy for putting his career on the line. He challenges anyone in the back that thinks he can't beat the Undertaker to come out and say it to his face, but the music that hits was Triple H!
While I'm sure the internet marks were yearning for Hunter to turn on his partner because "he's so much better as a heel", I loved that he actually had his friend's back. I'm under the belief that not everything has to be a swerve, and I liked Triple H's line "Shawn, I don't think you can beat the Undertaker..........I KNOW you can!" It was nice to see a friend supporting a friend, especially when one has been a main eventer forever and is, at that point, without any clue what his role at Wrestlemania will be. The culmination of the segment though was Trips talking about belief, leading to Shawn agreeing to fight along side Hunter in a Unified Tag Titles rematch. I don't think anyone expected DX to win, but the intrigue around this match becomes "HOW will they lose". Keep that in mind as it will be important later.
After a wonderful opening segment, the roller coaster was at the top of the hill and came crashing down. We got a backstage segment with hosts Cheech and Chong which would have been fine if it was simply the Bellas hanging out and giving a little plug for their comedy tour. Unfortunately, we got Hornswoggle giving Chong Lucky Charms which "got Chong high". I know Cheech and Chong made a career out of being stoners, but was this necessary? Sadly, I can't complain too much here, as it actually gets worse.
After that monsterosity, we got a match that many people thought would happen at Wrestlemania. While I have argued ad nauseum that it shoudln't happen, and instead, a handicap match between Legacy and their former mentor should occur, many have touted Ted Dibiase as the breakout star and said he's ready. Of course, the Mouth of the South Shore is right again, as the singles match was given fair time on Raw, eliminating any chance of the same match occuring in Phoenix. As expected, the match ended in disqualification due to Cody Rhodes' involvement. What wasn't expected is that two men touted as future stars had to barely escape the rath of one man. I suppose if the match I proposed is going to happen, you can't have Legacy beating up Orton every week because then it would look like Orton has no chance, but at the same time, it kind of makes Rhodes and Dibiase look weak to have to barely escape Orton together. I hope this culminates well, as Orton is way further down on this year's Wrestlemania card to begin with. This will only be worth it if his star power helps the rise of the two generational superstars he has mentored.
So after we again furthered a Wrestlemania story, we get another Cheech and Chong backstage segment where Chong is playing with Wililam Regal's hair because he thought it was Eve and then mistakenly thought Chris Masters was Kelly Kelly. Cheech warns that Chong shoudlnt' have eaten the cereal because it's too much sugar and will mess with him, but he eats some too and they both trip out. One segment was bad, two was worse. Again, playing on two guys pot smoking characters in a PG environment really isn't necessary. These are the type of hosts I don't enjoy.
Next, we got a squash match, except that it was a match for a spot in Money in the Bank. When Santino came out as Swagger's opponent, did anyone think he would win? Neither did I, and Swagger beat him in about a minute. This booking would have been just fine, as Swagger is a heel who could be despised by other combatants in the match for getting basically a free pass. More on that later though, because the problem worsens.
At this point, I was very down on the show, as there were 3 bad segments to 2 good ones, but the next segment made the show for me. The weird thing though, was that before commercial, Batista was shown leaving his dressing room to head to the ring, but after the commercial, it was Cena who came to the ring first and talked a while before Batista even came out. It was a little odd, but the high quality of the promos both men cut more than made up for it. While Cena came out confused as to why Batista doesn't like him, that was more than answered by The Animal. I still don't think Batista's delivery is all that wonderful, but at times, he was more convincing than he's ever been on the mic. This heel turn has really suited him, and though HOW he said it wasn't the best in the business, WHAT he said really struck a chord. After Cena called Batista a pansy, which was amusing, Batista got to the root of the problem, and added more fuel to the already large fire. On top of being a cog in the McMahon/Hart/Cena story, Batista adds that while he did business with McMahon, he was happy to due to his dislike of Cena. His reasoning was that even though their career paths were extraordinary similar, Cena got the torched passed to him from Steve Austin to be the face of the company, when in reality, Batista should have gotten that because he's better. Cena defines this as selfish, and Batista admits to that, saying he's there to make money and win titles. I loved Batistas line where he told Cena to "keep kissing babies and hugging fat girls while I'm in the gym preparing to beat you at Wrestlemania". Since a lot of older fans develop a disdain for John Cena's image anyway, this characterization had to hit a chord. I just thought this whole segment was incredible, as I did not expect this feud to ignite so well. It's clear that this is going to be THE main event at Wrestlemania, akin to The Rock and Austin or Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. While some don't like these guys due to their powerhouse "lack of moveset" styles. I think this feud and eventual match is growing into the most anticipated on the card. I for one am VERY excited to see what happens next between the two men.
After the best segment of the night, there is of course another Cheech and Chong segment with random guys and girls sitting in the room with fake mustaches. Then a chicken sounding like Santino Marella tells them that the Diva Pillow Fight is coming up soon. These segments were too much for me, as the emotional high you got from Cena and Batista did not need to be brought down by stupidity like that. I am all for comedy as part of a wrestling program, but I don't need low brow comedy that is only funny to those that lack intelligence. Sadly, the stupidity still hasn't reached its peak.
Before it could, we got a match that severely disappointed me. While the first four Money in the Bank qualifying matches had some quality to them, the last two have not. I was willing to give the Swagger/Marella one the benefit of the doubt because I thought a little sub-story could evolve from it, but what I saw next negated that idea and bordered on ridiculous. MVP was set to take on Zack Ryder for a spot in Money in the Bank. This could have been a great Raw debut match for Ryder, who I could have even seen going over with some Rosa interference or something, but instead of giving him a chance to showcase himself to the Raw audience, he lost almost as fast as Santino did. I'm not sure if this was done due to time constraints or the lack of confidence in Ryder being on the "A" show, but either way, I dont' like it. Santino is treated like a jobber, so him losing quickly is fine, but Ryder should have been given more of a chance. I also have to question what purpose MVP will serve in the MITB. Will he win? It seems like WWE hasn't been very high on him lately, and I honestly think Shelton Benjamin has a better chance at this point. If it was me, I would have had Ryder in the MITB match and I would have kept MVP and Henry together for a big Unified Tag Title match at Wreslemania with a bunch of other teams. This would have gotten a ton of guys on the card and made it seem like a lot of teams are in fact interested in the Tag Team Titles. That is not to be though, and we now stand 2 men short of full for the 2010 version of Money in the Bank.
My anger was festering from that disgrace of a match, and it didnt' help that the pillow fight was next. The only positive about it was that Eve won. This woman has been working very hard and has Raw athleticism that if unleashed, could lead to some exciting moves in the ring. She showed a little of that with a front flip leg drop finisher. If she works on her aerial assault more, she could be fun to watch. If she continues to develop, I could see her being a solid champion sometime in the not so distant future. She's only 25 and could really be solid in the women's division. Unfortunately, her first showcase was in a stupid gimmick match, which I'm normally ok with, but due to other poor segments on this show, I was down on it. Plus, Hornswoggle coming out at the end and stealing EVe's moment just to throw cereal is such an insult to my intelligence. The problem is, the hosts were in FOUR segments. At this time of year, they need to be in like two max unless they are a former wrestler of WWE personality. Too much Cheech and Chong and their stupid gimmick for my liking on this show.
The newest Hall of Famer was announced next and it's "Mad Dog" Vachon. Given that his career ended around when I was born, I didn't know much about him, but the last name sounded familiar. I did some research and yes, he is the uncle of Luna Vachon of Oddities fame. Outside of that, it seems he had a long career and was a legit tough guy, and this is one of those older guy inductions that makes the fan learn more about the history of wrestling so I'm certainly cool with that. It's good for the fans to know that wrestling didn't begin with Hulkamania. Though I must say, Mad Dog had quite the look to him with the bald head and beard!
Finally, after a long string of poor segments, we got one I actually wanted to see. Yet another Bret Hart farewell that wasn't a Bret Hart farewell. Anyone with half a brain knew that it wouldn't be a goodbye speech, but it actually ended up being a better segment than I thought. Vince challenged Bret saying that he knows Bret came back because deep down, he's wanted to fight Vince for a long time. Bret agrees and Vince says "then why not at Wrestlemania". Bret calls Vince and idiot for asking since he has a broken leg which led to a really cool spot in my opinion where Vince kicked out the crutch and Bret fell to the mat as he was called a coward. Bret finally agrees and the Wrestlemania match is on! So far, no inclination as to whether the injury was a hoax, but it seems like they are playing it off that Bret should just be able to recover anyway. I still think it may come out that there was some sort of plot involved, but at this point, it's not that relevant. The end of the segment came when Vince announced at the top of the ramp that he would get ready for their match by taking on John Cena next week. Some would argue that Vince made that match as a draw over TNA for next week, but I'd argue that if it has anything to do with TNA, it's that a 64 year old Vince feels that he'll put on a better match than the two geezers in TNA will. The sad thing is, he's probably right. Hulk Hogan getting back in a ring? Dude can hardly walk. But I digress.
The main event was the Unified Tag Title rematch. Not a bad match, but I'm somewhat disappointed that the Tag Title storyline for Wrestlemania is only being furthered on Smackdown. I suppose you could argue that this match could have led to a title change which would have furthered the story for those titles, but did anyone think DX would win? What we did figure was that the match would be decent, and it was, but the finish was plain creepy. Shawn got on a roll and was ready to hit the Sweet Chin Music on The Miz, but Undertaker's head appeared on the Titantron. He didn't say anything, but it got Shawn's attention given his tunnel vision regarding their impending Wrestlemania match. As Taker rolled his eyes into the back of his head, Miz snuck in and rolled HBK up for the pin. The ending made sense, and I'm glad that they didn't do a predictable Hunter getting upset at HBK for losing thing. Triple H is firmly behind his friend and I can't say enough how little you see that in wrestling. It's actually a nice change of pace to see actual friendship on screen.
However, friendship couldn't save Triple H from getting ambushed by Sheamus after Michaels made his way to the back. The show ended with Sheamus' fists high in the air after beating the hell out of The Game. I suppose they will play on Hunter being the one to cost Sheamus his title by pinning him in the Chamber as fuel to start this feud, but I hope the promos allow it to go deeper. This could be really big for Sheamus, as simply getting a match with Trips on the big stage is huge. Even with a loss, Hunter could make Sheamus look like a legitimate contender and solidify his status as a main eventer. The key will be a solid lead up to build intrigue and hopefully a solid match which won't have that much pressure due to being a non title contest that will be somewhere in the middle of the card.
I think it's pretty obvious that I was very up and down about this episode. My feeling is that if comedy is going to be involved with the show, keep it to one segment, and improve the writing. I did not need 4 segments of useless comedy on a broadcast keying in on Wrestlemania. Cut that in half and give some more time to the MVP/Ryder match and right away the broadcast improves. Subtle moves like that can really make the difference, and this episode went subtley the wrong way. I can't call the episode a failure though, as the Batista/Cena segment was so good that it made the entire show for me. I also thought the opening segment was fantastic and the Bret/Vince segment wasn't bad either. I hope next week with Criss Angel brings a little less stupidity and a little more Miz (I had to throw it in, again no promo!) I have included a video towards the end of Raw. Flip it to the 8 minute mark to see how truly creepy Undertaker looked on that titantron. It's truly a sight!
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