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3.18.2008

Tha Raw Report: VKM Makes Me GTS

I want to go ahead and get the negativity out of the way. Dammit we’re trying to be positive here at Tha O Show and only Dan and I are letting you down. So here we go, getting negativity out of the way early.

Vincent Kennedy McMahon got a star on the Walk of Fame. Please do clap, now let’s move on. He got a star, so he is suddenly ready to step back in the ring and take on Ric Flair?

Not only was he ready to take on Ric Flair he was ready to retire him. That’s what irritated me the most. There has been build to this Michaels/Flair encounter at 'Mania and only the most naïve person would think Flair losing was even a possibility.

The one thing I really didn’t like outside of that was the promo that Ric Flair cut on Shawn Michaels backstage. They were buddies on Friday night. Michaels is a “Raw” guy, and Flair was heeling on Michaels for being backstage at “Raw?” Did I miss something?

The match itself was decent, with Vince getting in way to much offense, but leaving Flair looking like a strong sympathetic babyface. Then Michaels came out and screams at the referee, “He can’t lose,” and this allows Flair to hit Vince in the balls.

Not only that, but Flair set up Vince on the table and took it to the top rope. Wrestling history tells you this is bad news. Not this time. Ric Flair hit the ugliest splash in wrestling history, but I loved every single second of it.

Onto the positives and I do have several. Chris Jericho and Big Show’s opening segment promo battle. Jericho was on his game on the mic last night, and Big Show proved that he certainly was as well. I honestly don’t know which one liner I liked the best, but there were several candidates.

I’ve always liked The Highlight Reel, and I’ve always been a Jericho mark, and Big Show usually entertains on the mic as well. I did think Jericho should have introduced the Inter-Chris-inental Championship, as he did back in the day. I did like Show saying, “With that fancy new haircut you look like you’re ready to sing karaoke to Justin Timberlake,” something tells me BDD liked that too.

Santino Marella. No other words need to be said. He is the most entertaining guy week in and week out in the WWE. His Snoopity Dog comment was funny as hell. What topped it all off however, was his throwing Jerry Stupid Lawler’s drink on him, and then stealing his Subway samitch.

I think that the E would be smart to keep Santino rolling with Victoria and Melina, and throw Beth Phoenix in there too. He could lead a group of Diva’s and he could call them the Santin-ho’s. The man needs even more mic time, and even more TV time. He is, as Jericho claims to be, the “Highlight of the night.”

Santino alone provides enough quotes to make a show go around. I loved how he kept saying “cheap shot,” every time Maria or Candice did something. I also loved how he called them “garbage people,” he is the most entertaining aspect of “Raw” on a regular basis.

I don’t know how many dirt sheet readers there are here at Tha O Show, but reports have been popping up over the last few weeks stating real heat between Punk and Carlito. Last night we got to see Punk and Carlito in the ring. While it wasn’t a great match, they don’t seem to have a lot of chemistry.

It wasn’t a bad match, or below either mans standards, but I did see something that struck me as odd. When Punk hit his GTS he slapped Carlito down and screamed his, “What’s my name,” gimmick. I haven’t seen him do that, maybe we’ll see a little extra snugness at Money in the Bank.

WWE.com recently did a list of its greatest tag teams of all time. It was a Top 10 style list and gave a few honorable mentions. Brian Kendrick and Paul London got an honorable mention. In the last few months they’ve been turned into jobbers.

This weeks “Raw” takes the cake though. Not only did they have Spanky walk out on Paul London while he was getting his ass handed to him by Umaga, the announcers hardly even played it up. Regal and Triple Hayche had to do it for them backstage.

A few years ago while they were still on “SmackDown!” they teased the tension and a breakup when Ashley was managing them. This time there is no manager, and I don’t think it’s going to be a tease long. It’s either going to turn into a feud with really good matches, or it’ll be London/Kidman all over again.

I think The Hooliganz, and yes they wanted to use that name, are a tremendous tag team asset to the E, and to waste it would be dumb. If this does turn into London/Kidman part two, then one will go on to wallow in low to mid-card matches and one will go work the Indies. Lets all hope that doesn’t happen.

John Bradshaw Layfield, the wrestling god! The man truly does, as Donnie harps on so often, use real emotion and hate to keep him over. Colin Delaney. I don’t know how long they are going to keep this going, but it’s just funny.

Another JBL note that I might as well put in, after the “main event,” JBL and Umaga were teaming against Cena and Orton and JBL accidentally cracked Umaga in the head. Umaga no-sold, and then hit a Samoan Spike on Cena. What followed honestly made me laugh. JBL actually ran from Umaga. Well, not a run, maybe a mid-paced jog would describe it.

Triple H is one of those guys. It’s hard to hate him on a consistent basis. He’s a tweener no doubt, but I guess to describe him accurately, I’ll say he’s the asshole either at work or school that you love to hate. He’s a humorous face and a hateful heel, but works both in together for a more effective character. Gotta love it.

Before we cover the main event I want to throw this out there. They didn’t announce a new Hall of Fame inductee on “Raw,” and are choosing to do it on ECW. That leads me to believe that it will be an ECW Alum. Terry Funk comes to mind, as does Bam Bam Bigelow, but there is also the possibility of Taz and or Joey Styles. Taz could get in as a wrestler not a commentator, and Styles for his announcing and what he meant for the original ECW.

Onto the evenings main event, John Cena and Randy Orton taking on the entire “Raw” roster, except for Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Paul London, Highlander Robbie, Chris Jericho, Big Show and a few others. The match itself was entertaining. Too many mid-card and under-card guys got squashed, but we knew it was coming.

Cena and Orton actually worked half decent as a tag team. Cena throwing Cody Rhodes up and into an RKO may actually have been the O of the night outside of Big Shows face busting potato on Jericho.

The post-match chair slinging by Cena was pretty good, which led to the JBL and Umaga scene I talked about earlier. The one thing that I expected was Triple H to get involved somehow. I didn’t expect him to get a Pedigree in on both dudes, but I loved that.

How long has it been before the build to this triple threat that we’ve seen Cena lying in the middle of the ring to send the show to credits? It doesn’t happen, and dammit I’m glad it did. The asshole smile H had on his face made it even more entertaining. Whether or not he becomes a 12 time champ is yet to be seen, but I’d like to see Orton hang on to it and let he and H feud alone over the summer.

On my last note of the week, look for Triple H to show up in those Nutri-system ads with Dan Marino and Mike Golic because dude has lost weight yet again.

Tha Results…
*CM Punk def. Carlito
*Umaga def. London & Kendrick
*JBL def. Colin Delaney
*Ric Flair def. Vince McMahon
*Candice & Maria def. Jillian & Victoria
*Big Show def. Chris Jericho via DQ
*John Cena & Randy Orton def. Raw Roster via DQ


12 comments: on "Tha Raw Report: VKM Makes Me GTS"

Anonymous said...

Top 5 O's of the night


#5. Cena and Orton's toned down backstage promo
#4. Flair's blood
#3. Chris Jericho's goose egg
#2. Candice Michelle's in ring performance
#1. Santino snatching Jerry "Stupid" Lawler's delicious Subway sandwich

Anonymous said...

That toss up RKO literally made me O. Cena and Orton would actually be a good tag team, and how about Orton. His RKO's were crisp. Another plus, I didn't hate Cena last night. I agree with D.J.B. Overall good show.

D.J.B. said...

Given the fact that it had certain O-tastic moments, the main event wasn't terrible.

It was one of the better Raw's this year, and up until the concept of the main event remained so.

fallen0ne said...

I haven't liked a Flair match in ages, but if you didn't O for that splash from the top, you should not watch wrestling. Santino coming back to take the sandwich, hilarious. Trips has been the last man standing for so many shows, I'm pretty sure he's not the one going over.

D.J.B. said...

Fallenone, I'm beginning to agree with you on the Trips isn't going over thing. Question is, do they put Cena over considering he'll be missing a Raw every now and then to film 12 Rounds? Is it possible that Orton will retain? PLEASE SAY SO!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Technically cena stood strong because there is an extra clip at wwe.com from what happened after raw wemt off the air and it had orton and cena shake hands then orton got his rko reversed into an fu and cena stood on ropes....i agree that orton should retain at mania and that cena should turn heel and team up with orton for a new heel team but thats not happening

Anonymous said...

This is me shocked that I didnt hate Cena this past week. If he and Orton formed a new Two Man Power Trip I would not be upset.

Anonymous said...

i dont know what was better jeriicho's execution of the lion sault or jbl'lscreepy neck hair.

if you didnt catch it; check the end of his match during the closeup.

this wasn't even in hd.

Anonymous said...

you don't get why flair was going of on hbk?

rewind it and listen to whhat he said...

hbk didnt have a match and essentially had the 'night off'.
so why was he in the building?

to save ric from vince.

and that undermined flair's ability to win on his own merit.

pass me the fork and knife, mama's gonna cut your food for ya too.

Anonymous said...

I'm disgusted by some mark who's never set foot in the ring saying Flair's top rope splash was the uglist in history. He was completely horizontal and dove beautifully. So he didn't touch his toes or do a revolution. 20 years ago, that spot was enough to put him in the ranks with Greg Gagne.

D.J.B. said...

Hey mama, pay attention to this past Friday's "SmackDown!" when the two were bestest buddies and Ric NEEDED Shawn, how bout that? Here's the other thing, the match was announced DURING the show. Not before so Shawn could book a flight and get there. Right before the announcement JR said, "earlier today." Doesn't make sense that with Shawn being a part of the "Raw" roster he wouldn't be there. It's his job to be there, check the Raw roster on WWE.com

Pissed off worker...find a sense of humor. It was ugly because Flair hit a move off the top. He's not supposed to do that. He's Ric Flair, the man that gets thrown from the top turnbuckle every single time he goes up. Remember when he nailed one as IC Champ and when H came back he heeled on that?

Anonymous said...

I thought the show was really outstanding, my least favorite moment was the CM, Carlito match. I don't know why since I like both guys work, but it just didn't have anything for me.
Or maybe the back hair was my least favorite moment.
Anyone else hear Santino yell 'Ha, you lose!' after he punched Lawler?
Jericho going for the chair felt a little weird, and for the record I think Y2J has more Wins than losses against Big Show.
Isn't London still injured?
The main event was interesting, not only the format of the match but the way that Orton and Cena worked together, and Orton's boos becoming Cheers.