Check This Out...

6.03.2008

Tha Raw Report: Million Dollar Dream

Last night's “Raw” promised the details of “McMahon Million Dollar Mania.” The details were given, and apparently it made such a run on the online entry forms that service became temporarily unavailable. That’s either a work to gain attention, or a lot of people want some of that money money, yeah yeah.

Coming off the heels of a rather shockingly good One Night Stand, "Raw" this week tried to capitalize on that. It also appears as though someone from the WWE, I’m looking at you Howard Finkel, took Tha O Show’s advice. The WWE Intercontinental Championship was defended for the first time in months, and it was admitted on TV that the belt had been neglected.

I previously mentioned Y2J defending the Intercontinental Championship for the first time in quite some time. In his pre-match interview he said that he hadn’t defended the championship like he should, and to that I, as well as countless others agree. Some would say he doesn’t need the championship period, but that’s an entirely different topic.

His opponent was JBL, and I think, while JBL is a top-tier guy he could have a run with the Intercontinental Championship, and if done properly could give someone a nice rub upon them unseating him for it down the road, apparently though, that won’t happen, and Jericho will just drop it sometime down the road.

The match itself wasn’t bad but the ending was yet another schmoz. JBL grabbed a chair and defied the referee just a little too much, so the match was thrown out. How many matches on "Raw" in the last year have been thrown out? This however set up a mirror image of last week. Jericho had the chair and was about to swing it, but backed off on the downswing.

Not sure where they are going with this, did Jericho have some sort of tragic chair accident in his youth? Probably not, so this is most likely building towards the Jericho/Michaels feud that seems inevitable. Jericho put over Michaels again, and I don’t think that this will end without a match between the two of them.

Santino Marella and Carlito, who, not many people realized were still a team, got a non-title victory over Holly and Rhodes, while the guest timekeeper, Rodney the Piper provided the distraction. What apparently I missed was the surprise Santino had in store for the legendary Hot Rod.

The thing I don’t get though, is why in the ring after the match, Holly got hot at Rhodes for not telling him Roddy was the timekeeper. Really, are we teasing a split before they lose the gold?

Simply Priceless Ted Dibiase had another backstage promo, and I must say I have a lot of hope for this guy. He said he was a few weeks away from choosing a partner. I like that he works the tagline in weekly, and it fit, he isn’t just saying it to say it. They could do a good bit with this, and I hope they don’t drop the ball.

The Melina/Phoenix storyline continues, and WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James was thrown in, like Katie Lea was to make it a tag match, nothing more, nothing less. Decent match, with Mickie getting her neck jacked up, and Melina taking a sick looking clothesline, while Katie Lea pinned Mickie to get the W for her team.

Speaking of Mickie James, she and John Cena had yet another pointless backstage segment. She was on the training table icing her jacked up neck and Cena walked in. He then ran down everyone for calling them a “couple.” Immediately following that, he produced a thong she left at his place the night before. What storyline or anything does this perpetuate? If this is leading somewhere it is the epitome of slow burn.

John Cena taking on Jeff Hardy to determine the new #1 contender to Triple H’s WWE Championship. Thank goodness the draft is coming soon. I have no problem with Jeff Hardy being positioned as a babyface in a top feud, but there’s really no need for Cena vs. Hardy with both as babyfaces.

Cena worked a half-decent match, but the ending was another recycled John Cena finish that left a lot to be desired. With the recent slew of Wellness violation returns resulting in some sort of push, or a shiny gold belt, one may have thought that Jeff Hardy was primed for victory and another losing effort in a PPV main event.

When all was said and done, whodathunkit, John Cena was the one with his hand raised. After the match we got something else never before seen, Triple H and John Cena in a stare down with the WWE title held high…oh wait, we’ve seen that too many times.

With early reports indicating that Batista will face Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship, Night of Champions is officially most likely going to be one of the worst PPV’s of the year. Hopefully the under card will be stacked, because John Cena vs. Triple H and Batista vs. Edge being the top two matches is something we’ve seen so many times it makes me want to vomit.

DJB’s What to Watch:
Santino/Carlito vs. Holly & Rhodes
Jericho vs. JBL >
Phoenix/Katie Lea vs. Melina/Mickie >>
Cade vs. Murdoch
Hardy vs. Cena

Tha Results…
*Kennedy def. Umaga
*SantinO & Carlito def. Holly & Rhodes
*Jericho def. JBL via DQ to retain IC title
*Phoenix & Katie Lea def. Melina & Mickie
*Lance Cade def. Trevor Murdoch
*John Cena def. Jeff Hardy to become #1 Contender to WWE Championship


9 comments: on "Tha Raw Report: Million Dollar Dream"

Unknown said...

I'm surprised you didn't mention the fan that ran in during the Cena/Hardy match. It's sad that in a #1 contender match with 2 top baby faces that the highlight came from a fan trying to get on tv.

All in all Raw was ok. Nothing great, but I'm hoping that Raw next week will live up to the hype.

Anonymous said...

this Cena shit is garbage,they should just make it hardy vs cena vs HHH triple threat cmonn and they better not blow the draft and actually use it correctly unlike last time. And now there is no Big heel to make up for Orton on raw at this time wtf

D.J.B. said...

Oops, I forgot about the fan, but you're right, that was one of the highlights. I honestly couldnt think of a better match for that to happen in though. Had there been a heel involved he would have had to take an extra minute or two to berate said fan, Cena and Hardy just smiled, shrugged it off and went back to it.

Mach 23, while it'd be three faces, I absolutely agree, that was my thought throughout the match, why not have this as a damn triple threat match? Theres going to be a Draft, "Raw" will get a big heel, but until then give the fans three babyfaces at the PPV, may even get you some extra buys.

Speaking of no heel...what a shitty time for Kennedy to be a face, and dwelling in a feud with Burchill, OUCH!

Anonymous said...

The fan running in was a work. I love how JR and king immediatly said how "people who dont watch wrestling are missing out on fun moments like this." It was a work to get ratings.

I kinda like what their doing with kennedy and burchill. Burchill's finally getting some actual heat, as opposed to when he squashed jobbers with that cool finisher, and garnerd 2 or 3 boos form the crowd. He's becoming less stale. The midcards, as a whole, are finally developing in the E. Now if they could only get some intrigiuing storylines for the main event titles.

Anonymous said...

Alot of people think it was a work...but i dont, i dont think theyre smart enough to do that

Anonymous said...

well now i really have 2 things to look forward to raw. the kennedy/burchill fued which i think is really dope and should be gret. and the ted jr thing. those were entertaining and i cant wait for next week because of that.

the cena mickie thing is not so bad,he if it makes cena as a character more interesting. go for it

Anonymous said...

Talk about a leap forward. The E's product is looking great right now. Jericho actually defending his title, and it now being supplemented by a REAL midcard with REAL midcard feuds. Cade, Murdoch, Kennedy, Burchill, maybe even COdy Rhodes could all be contenders for the title. Btw, anyone else mad that Cade/Murdoch was so anti-climatic? Have them in a falls count anywhere or something on a PPV. These guys are supposed to hate each other and Cade wins in what amounts to a squash basically. I loved Vince's shoot on the "snobs". Really well done. My last plus is Dibiase Jr. I'm with you homie, I got high hopes for him. His promos are actually damn good for being a rookie. Better than Cody's were, but then again, they didn't really give Cody a character. Regardless, I can't wait to see these two have a feud. Hopefully they slow burn it and these guys both get pushes.

leorocker180 said...

I don't know if I'm going to be as optimistic about th IC title push...as many of you are....not to be a pessimist or anything but what is the next PPV for WWE......o thats right..."Night of Champions" thats the show were all of the titles HAVE to be defended right?....therefore it is quite the coincidence that all of a sudden the writers are trying to make the IC title seem relevant again....but I do think that Y2J will drop the belt to HBK at the PPV....and maybe then the wwe will give it some importance by having jericho seeth over losing HIS belt to HBK in a clean fashion...then he turns heel and chases the belt....that would be hot and would bring the IC belt out of the duct.....hopefully.

Anonymous said...

the fan running in wasn't a work. i really doubt that the fed went to the trouble of paying a guy just so he could get 2/10s of a second of screen time, and that they assumed that this would be a ratings bonanza for weeks to come. king and JR were attempting to get back to business as usual, i.e. selling the main storyline of the night, and not give the guy any actual attention.