There really seemed to be a lot jam-packed into the "Raw" broadcast last night. Another classic battle, a "Whodunnit?" mystery, a heel turn and many new and interesting developments as it relates to ECW.Let's start with the classic battle. Not ones to be overshadowed by Shawn Michaels and John Cena, Edge and Randy Orton put on an O-tastic match last night to open "Raw". I don't know if the former Rated RKO wanted to one up HBK and the "Champ" or try to bring the matches on "Raw" to a "SmackDown!"-like quality...but I loved it!
...on a side note, it requires mentioning that during Sunday's Backlash broadcast when Orton tried to recruit John Cena as an ally in the Fatal Four Way match, I remarked that if they were to become a team, they'd be known as "Rated RK-NO"...thought it was funny...anyway...
The Edge VS. Orton match helped for a statement I made in my "Wack-Ass Backlash" article to ring true: for some reason, it appears as if the best matches are being reserved for free TV...because this duel, I felt, outshined the PPV performance. Complete with a ton of near falls and O spots (Orton's bump on the announce table comes to mind), this match rivaled the main event of last week's "Raw".
Of course, it wasn't as long of a match though. Jim Ross made it a point to remark numerous times that the HBK/Cena classic clocked in at 60 minutes and 15 seconds (what ever happened to time limits for matches anyway?). Of course, before a commercial break, however, the ever-brilliant Jerry Lawler referred to last week's bout as lasting "almost an hour". Nevertheless, the length of the Orton/Edge match was not what made it a "tremendously emotional, athletic, phenomenal wrestling match" as J.R. so eloquently put it. The two worked their asses off and deserved a standing "O".
So much for Orton's "punishment" for his recent bad behaviour. Sure, he's taken the pinfall two nights in a row...but he hasn't been doing it in a "getting punked" type of fashion.
Another superstar who one may have thought WOULD be getting punked last night was Rob Van Dam. With rumours continuing to circulate that with his contract drawing to an end making him TNA-bound, you would think that RVD's "squash him before he leaves" period was about to begin. I honestly thought, for a couple of moments, last night that Van Dam was going to go over on Umaga. A "cookie", as they call it, was seemingly being fed to him in an effort to get him to re-sign with the E.Sure enough, however, Umaga got the victory. But again, a squash that was not. A good showing by Van Dam in addition to his involvement in the "I can't believe Vince McMahon is the ECW World Champion" storyline gives me hope that his tenure in the company is not coming to an end. Or at least, to be more realistic, that his last days in the company will not see him mercilessly buried on a weekly basis.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with a point made in Brian Plunkett's latest edition of "Tha Hitman Sharpshoots". I honestly think that I'm going to like where the E is going with the ECW title picture. With Lashley out for the time being, the possibilities for the NEXT ECW Champion are numerous. With the ECW Originals exclaiming their disgust about Vinnie Mac's win (good to see Sabu NOT actually speaking), it helps for one to believe that the ECW broadcast will now actually have something to do with the ECW belt.
Speaking of belts, it looks like we'll finally get to see Santino Marella defend his Intercontinental Championship next week on "Raw". While I'm still not jumping all over this angle, I do like his character. The charisma possessed by Marella, as Matt DaRosa spoke about on Tha O Show Radio Hour, came through during his interview segment on "Raw" last night. ("Roberto" Lashley - HA!). He plays up the Italian accent well and more importantly is putting over the entire "I can't believe this is happening" concept of being a fan who got a chance at the big time. I'm interested to see where this goes.
So Carlito has turned heel. Again. As much as I definitely prefer Carlito as a heel, his turn on Ric Flair last night was very...who cares-ish. I've made no secret that I think that the Flair/Carlito angle is one of the weakest on "Raw". Even with this turn of events, I'm still hoping for more intrigue to develop in this story. I mean, it's not like these two have a long storied history together. This 'feud' should have culminated at WrestleMania 23 when fans might have still cared about it. We'll see if this new 'twist' actually helps Carlito sell any of his new shirts.As for the "Whodunnit?" mystery. How dumb was it to see the trainer and Mike Rutondo respectively ask "Are you okay?" and "What happened?" to a completely unconscious Shawn Michaels last night? I thought...actually hoped (against all hope, of course) that John Cena might be responsible for the mysterious beatdowns of HBK, Edge and Randy Orton. Now, THAT heel turn, I've been dying to see.
It would have been the perfect opportunity for it to happen. Hell, there have been PLENTY of perfect opportunities for WWE to turn Cena heel recently. They already have the "crowd is booing him" part down. But alas, The Great Khali is still somehow earning himself a push in the company.
Will The Great Khali become the next WWE Champion? Cena did actually sell his own beatdown last night. But I'm not sure if even I want that to happen. And you mean that I have to wait until WrestleMania 24 for Mr. Kennedy to cash in on his "Money In The Bank" title shot? He's got to be working us. I can't imagine that actually being a legit announcement.It would have been sweet if after the Khali beatdown of Cena if Kennedy had come out for the 1-2-3. It would have made perfect sense. I'm still not sure that Kennedy isn't behind this whole thing...or am I just creating storylines in my head in hopes that the ones we're watching aren't really that stupid after all?
At least, the "interest factor" in "Raw" has been picking up as of late.
Oh yeah, this needed to be said. If ever there is an award for "Lamest Black Man In History", Cowboy Troy would need to clear space on his mantle. You, my friend, are a friggin' loser.
23 comments: on "Tha Raw Report - Stories O Plenty"
You're going to say that the innovator of Hick-Hop is the lamest black man in history?
No friggin' way. Al Sharpton jumps to mind. So do Jesse Jackson and OJ Simpson.
I'm a CBT mark, in case you couldn't tell.
Also, I must announce that my O Show t-shirt came in the mail today. I will be rocking it all over the place, and once my camera gets fixed, I will be rocking pics of it on MySpace and Dan-e-o's favorite website, Facebook.
I'm with Plunkett, Troy aint that bad, shit he plays chicken with the train, and he'd already been on the CMA's, hell Tim Mcgraw said he liked the change. Those are a few lines from his hit. But Dan, go download CBT on the MP3.
If Kennedy does wait, it may better serve him. You and Don were talking about is Kennedy over enough, and if he goes this route, he will be. It gives him 11 calendar months, basically 1 full year to get even more over, and it puts him in the MAIN EVENT at Mania. So if he goes this way, it may be cool, if not, it'll still be cool.
I never thought that I'd see the E push someone to face John Cena that was a worse wrestler. Guess I was wrong, BUT, I've found a saving grace in it. If Cena doesn't sell Khali, Khali will make him sell. If Cena goes over on Khali it'll be that, well Khali can't wrestle. But honestly, do you expect Khali to be an excellent wrestler? He's so big that it'd be hard for him to wrestle guys in the E other than Taker, Tista, and other sizeable opponents. Look, I'm the last guy on earth that thought he'd take up for Khali, but if it'll get the belt off Cena, be my guest.
Do we realize our only hope to get the belt off Cena? We have to do it. We have to call the man with the greatest song ever. JIMMY KING! He's the best wrestler, better than all the rest-ler. He and his partner Gordy Boggs AKA The LAW would reak havok on the dubba duh Bee. Damn I've lost my mind, it's fucking gone. I dont know though, Arquette has already been champ, maybe he and Cena can work a good match together.
Carlito and Flair could go somewhere, I wonder if they'll play up the Carlos vs. Flair shit, and have Carlito doing what his father before him did? So is Carlito happy now? He's a heel, Torrie is all but gone, and his hair still looks awesome.
Of honorable mention from the show, the Diva tag match which wasn't bad, and how bout MARIA? I don't know where I was going with that, other than Maria is hot, so yeah, I'm done.
DJB, I had mentioned this to you earlier, but I think the reasoning behind a Khali/Cena angle is that absolutely no one likes Great Khali. Marks boo him, smarks boo him, even the people who gave The Longest Yard bad reviews boo him.
I think that the E is hoping that having Cena face such a despised heel will cause more people to cheer for Cena again. It ain't happenin', but they can dream. And while Khali as the champ would be an absolute nightmare, at least Cena's facing someone who can stiff him and force him to sell.
Kennedy's promo was great, especially for guys from the Buffalo area. Fuck you, Juice.
Yeah, I agree with you, but hey, I'm reaching.
You mean OJ isn't a hero up there?
Look the E seems to live in a dream. It's like we talked about, the ECW Originals should have been cutting these promo's long time. I wonder if even though Tommy is well liked, if he'll go if Van Dam, Sabu, and Sandman go?
I guess RAW has been picking up lately. It seems as though they've been hearing the "Smackdown is the real A show" buzz.
Wonder who the greater power is gonna turn out to be this time, cause Khali it ain't.
Also, it appears ThaOshow does not ship to the sunny island of Aruba. Hence I won't be rockin that kick ass reversal shirt.
In the overplayed word of Ron Simmons,.......... DAMN!
So fallen0ne, we are tight now, I'm comin to kick it with you in Aruba. Seriously though, yeah, RAW seems to be picking it up latley, I guess trying to match the product SMACKDOWN has put out latley.
Vince, Umaga, and Khali together form an Axis of Evil, intent on making WWE a completely unwatchable product. I was almost set to come here and praise the E for finally having a match where Umaga looked human, until the end when he completely no-sold the entire match with his glorified finger poke of doom.
Whenever you get down here DJB, hit me up.
I don't believe khali is acting on his own, there's gotta be somebody with brain power pulling the attacks.
Wow...I honestly can't remember any time when everbyody here was so speculative about a cliffhanger storyline. Maybe they read DJB's article about the cliffhangers.
Rumors indicate, however, that the E is bringing Rikishi back and are planning to reveal him as the "mastermind" behind the attacks, a lá the Austin rundown from 1999.
Will do fallen0ne. I had heard about Rikishi, but then one of the sheets said those rumors were completely untrue.
News that is shitty, though needs to be mentioned:
The Undertaker suffered a torn bicep tendon. He is scheduled to see a doctor today to have the injury examined. Apparently you can easily see where the torn muscle in his bicep has rolled up his arm towards his shoulder.
The muscle is noticeably rolled up, which implies a complete tear off the bone and a six-to-eight month recovery period.
Undertaker committed to working a more regular WWE schedule for the purpose of long-term title reign, but if the injury is as serious as most believe, he'll be forced to drop the belt soon.
He was to be evaluated by Dr. James Andrews Tuesday afternoon. After determining if Undertaker will be required to drop the belt, WWE will then have to decide whether or not it can safely be done via a match.
I'm not one to make assumptions, but I wonder if it has anything to do with carrying the load for the last couple months with the steroid he's been wrestling?
I know it was untrue, I just wanted to see if anybody would actually buy it. Would be cool though; I miss the 'kish.
That's a shame about Undertaker. First SmackDown! loses Booker, now they're most likely going to lose Undertaker. Add to that the fact that Mysterio has been on the shelf for a while.
SmackDown! is low on main eventers again. They've got Batista, and that's pretty much it. As it stands, they have a few options for which way to go-
-put the title back on Batista
-move Orton over from RAW, put the title on him
-put the title on Kennedy earlier than planned
-elevate a low level main eventer, like Benoit (after putting the US Title on MVP), Kane or Finlay and give them the title
-put the title on Frank Fronte
two things one its sucks that takers injured
two fronte cant wrestle himself out of a wet paper bag
Would you rather see Batista as the champ?
World Championship + Frank Fronte=GOLD. Frank Fronte could outwork half the roster on the mic, and could probably outwrestle the WWE Champ, and the former World Champ.
The campaign has officially started FRONTE FOR CHAMP!
Buryme whats with the hard on for Fronte?
lol well if you were said, id say the same thing
i was sooooooo Oing and waiting for Cena to get the mic back after waitin for a bit and say it was him that did it and cut a heel turn freestyle promo..... woulda been GOLDEN
I don't know if it's Cena or Vince, but one of em doesnt have the balls for Cena to go heel.
O for Van Dam winning that match tonight, we've got a week to find out whether Van Dam resigned and gets another push, or this is just a way for the E to bury him.
fallenOne... email us your contact info and we'll make arranagments to ship a shirt to Aruba...
bigdaddy@thaoshow.com
Will do
I've got the perfect angle for Fronte, too.
He debuts on SmackDown as the lackey of Batista, being referred to as the "right hand man". Batista turns on him, thus going heel. Fronte, a week later, wins the title, and gets a new gimmick. Ever heard of "King Of The Mountain?" He'll be "King Of The Bathroom".
With that gimmick he could do the whole third person gimmick on top of it. He could be the Fronte or the Frank Fronte, and for the people who either don't hear to good or just don't pay really good attention it'd be Frank Fountain.
ROH GOT A FUCKIN TV DEAL ITS ABOUT FUCKIN TIME.WWE rest in piece, people no longer have to take the fuckin bullshit
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