Well RAW this week has garnered quite a negative reaction with most people! I’ve said for quite some time that it just feels like filler and that was evidenced even further by this week’s attempt. WWE are desperate to get to this 1000th RAW because everything is on hold until we get there. Here are some of my thoughts on this week’s proceedings.
What was with the Darth Vader breathing that they put over AJ on the opening video!? Sounded like John Cena had taken over the production truck with his Star Wars obsession again!
One small thing I noticed when AJ entered the ring at the start of RAW is that she wiped her feet on the apron before she entered, a bit of an old school touch which I haven’t seen in WWE since William Regal did it. Just goes to show that she may be crazy but she still has respect!
Then again, AJ is nuts! She said last Friday on SmackDown to Punk when I seem to remember that last week’s SmackDown was a live edition on Tuesday? Damn these crazy chicks!
The show did get off to a promising start though with the focus on the WWE Championship match and AJ taking point. The segment was funny as proposals were made and on quite a few times during this show you could tell that Bryan was fighting back a smile when trying to be serious.
This week we also saw the wonderful return of the ‘Anonymous RAW GM.’ I could help but giggle when Cole couldn’t get the cloth off the microphone stand when he was unveiling the dreaded laptop. We later found out that Hornswoggle has indeed been the anonymous GM for RAW. Strange to think that Vince would have given a little person who sits under the ring the power to run an entire broadcast but eh! What do we expect? No matter whom they revealed it to be wouldn’t have made any sense and to be fair, I just don’t care. I’d have only been interested in the laptop if this week’s legend was Edge. He could have speared Slater and destroyed the laptop again, surely that would have been some form of entertainment?
As some of you may have listened on the new Virtually Reality with me and Adam Gorzelsky (VOWlive.com by the way – thumbs up Mick Foley style!) I was begging that the next time we see Sheamus that I didn’t end up having to see him come out with bandages on his ribs again after Del Rio’s attack on SmackDown. Thankfully I was spared this ridiculous moment but unfortunately it was replaced by a rather pointless match with Jack Swagger. I cannot help but get the feeling that Swagger is now on a similar storyline to that of MVP a few years back, a constant losing streak which doesn’t feel like it’s ending anytime soon.
Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler had ANOTHER altercation and match this week. I love how I write a column titled ‘commentary conundrums’ last week expressing my concerns over the current use of commentators in the WWE, only for them 7 days later to put them in to another match on RAW. It was another totally pointless segment which was ultimately used to reveal the anonymous GM. I also can’t believe that 75% of people voted they wanted this. Either we really are in the minority or WWE is recounting the votes if you know what I mean? I also love how Cole was arguing with Lawler saying that nobody wants to see this match, couldn’t agree more Cole.
Drew McIntyre got on RAW! He also got squashed in a match that had to be pushing 60 seconds! The only saving grace is that he took a head-butt bump that even Ziggler would have been proud of.
Then came John Cena, I’m not going to harp on about this but when he comes out and starts his promo about Money in the Bank I just cannot take him seriously. I feel like he’s stuck on a loop. He repeated himself about how he is going to cash in the briefcase. Why oh why is Cena bothered about it? The man isn’t going to be left out of the title picture even if he loses and no matter what level of fan you are, you cannot seriously believe that he needs it. The match feels like waste, total filler.
The real MITB match is the World Heavyweight Championship one because it contains participants who haven’t even been on a PPV never mind a main event. With WWE’s recent booking though we will likely see this match first on the card and the World Heavyweight Championship take another notch down on the respect ladder. The WWE Title MITB match isn’t drawing me in and with only 4 combatants it will be a slower paced match than the other.
I believe the MITB gimmick may have run its path now. It seems fair enough to do one at WrestleMania and let it be a stepping stone for a new talent but to limit it to former champions seems pointless. But when you look at the fact that within a 12 month period, depending on how long the winner holds on to the briefcase, there can be 4 people walking around with a briefcase seems silly. The gimmick has now taken the glory away from the Royal Rumble. I would rather the Rumble is used to show the push for a young guy but when the winner of that opens WrestleMania every year and the MITB winners get pushed to the stars it’s slowly starting to kill the tradition of the Rumble, anyway I digress on another subject for another day. I really hope Jericho gets the win just to be slightly different but we all know who our money is on.
I also noticed something else on the tag team match with the WWE Title MITB participants. Did you see the ring completely move when Jericho threw Cena to the ropes with an Irish whip? It was quite evident and I’ve never seen the WWE ring shift so much since Austin drove a Zamboni in to! Check it out folks; it’s towards the start of the match.
During Kane’s match I noticed that he was bleeding again under his mask. This has happened the last few weeks and I can understand Kane’s frustration with not wanting to wear it if it’s causing him injury every time he competes.
Backlund returned and did more in the ring than I ever could. There is nothing quite like a 62 year old man doing things you couldn’t do in your prime to boost your confidence levels! The man is in incredible shape for his age and still seems as mad as a brush!
The show ended on an expected note with AJ slapping both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. AJ’s character is mad and she isn’t showing any favouritism, it’s a perfect blend for an interesting match at the PPV.
Whilst WWE are treading water this week and seem to be waiting for the 1000th RAW, MITB should still entertain greatly as the threat of people cashing in on the 1000th RAW have to be high. With people returning in the upcoming weeks I suspect that everything shall be back to normal, but for now WWE, you can do much better than this.
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