I thought Raw was good tonight. The 8 man tag match was the best match of the evening. I was hoping Shawn would decide to fight JBL to rid this whole financial angle. When Shawn was deciding whether or not to lay down for JBL, they should have had HHH come down to the ramp and give Shawn a look, which would make Shawn retaliate towards Bradshaw. This whole JBL thing is way overblown. He is the most boring wrestler of all time! Hands down! He has no exciting moves and he is slow as hell! If its JBL vs. Cena at Wrestlemania, I refuse to order it! And thatâs a shame because Iâve ordered every Wrestlemania In History.
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Give me a break, JBL as #1 contender.
What the hell is wrong with WWE, why are they always favouring this guy at the big PPV. First at SummerSlam, now Royal Rumble, give me a break.
Man, these are reasons why I stop watching RAW because of stupidity like this. I can bet the JBL-Shawn Michaels storyline will go absolutely nowhere, which would then lead to a match at Wrestlemania 25. Think about it, a legend like Shawn Michaels facing a guy like JBL at the biggest PPV, I don’t think so
JBL should leave, his wrestling skills sucks, Randy Orton shiuld’ve won this. I don’t want to see a Randy Orton vs. Cena at WMXXV.
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You can really tell that WWE is waiting for the Orton/Cena build up for wrestlemania probably as some sort of rematch from last year. But knowing WWE Batista will be ready to go and added to the match. Which sucks because now what is Jericho going to do? Go back to going after the IC title or get traded to ECW? Jericho needs to main event wrestle mania. He needs to win the rumble and go on to finally beat Cena for the title. Having JBL win the fatal four way is basically WWE telling us not to buy the rumble PPV. Thanks for the heads up.
At last they have done something with Deuce (aka Sim Snuka). Ive been waiting for them to do something with him, I believe he will have the world title someday. With Manu possibly out of the Legacy they should pair him with Umaga on Smackdown as the Wild Somoans or Headshrinker type of team afterall they are cousins (or related somehow) and that would be neat to see. Looking forward to where Dibiase will fit in when he is back. Rhodes is way better than he was when with Holly, but the best in the group besides Orton, I believe will be Snuka. As long as they dont build him too much as the next Batista. WWE doing better lately, not sure what is in Jericho’s future. Kind of a crappy end to Raw but surprising to see Jericho and Orton both eliminated.
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This weeks edition of Raw was full of twists and surprises.
-The first match of the night was CM Punk vs Cody Rhodes..I thought that match was overall an a pretty good match
I knew Regal would be involved in the match some how…Hopefully next week CM Punk captures the title because William Regal as champion isnt working out
– The second match was the Divas Battle Royal Match…I never get into the divas match because they seem to be sloppy..I wasnt surprised that Melina won because her and Beth Phoenix have been having differences the last couple of weeks…I wanted Kelly Kelly to win but oh well
Speaking of Kelly….I was surprised when I found out her secret lover was Randy Orton….WWE had us fooled with that..To be honest I thought it was going to be CM Punk…But I guess i was wrong….I wonder were they are going to go with this
– The third match of the night was Sim Snuka vs Super Charlie Haas Snuka…I thought this match was boring…Even though I like this impersonation Charlie Haas is doing…I dont see this lasting…I believe Haas should drop this act and WWE give him a push as a serious singles competitor.
– The fourth match was the 10 man Tag Team Match….I thought this was a pretty good match…They used most of the mid carders which is good to see…But you could tell that Cena’s team would win…Man since his return…how many matches has he lost…None..WWE needs to change his gimmick because this superman gimmick is just becoming annoying…
– The fifth match of the night was Manu vs ECW Champion Matt Hardy….Surprisingly I liked this match…I thought it was sort of a decent match…Though I would love to see Matt Hardy lose that championship…He has held it for a long time and I see Jack Swagger beating him when he gets his shot
– The last match of the night was the fatal four way match…This was my fav match of the night…But it wasnt surprising when Shawn Michaels let JBL win…Man…I did see that coming…It was pretty obvious…But why did they have to let him win….It would have been better to see Shawn Michaels accidentally eliminate JBL…I can see the WHC match at the Royal Rumble to be a very boring match…See I wanted to see Chris Jericho to win…John Cena vs Chris Jericho put on a hell of a show.
– My final thought of Raw this week is I give it a 6/10…I cant wait to see what happens at the Royal Rumble…But we all know Chris Jericho is going to win
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All good things must come to an end and this is the case for tonightâs version of RAW. For the last couple of weeks RAW has been putting on some pretty decent episodes. Last weekâs match up between CM Punk and Chris Jerich was an incredible matchup and we saw one of the all time great divas come to pay a visit to her old stomping grounds. Tonight, out of 5 matches only two were anything worth watching. RAW started with the WWE reminding us about how stupid the WWE thinks we are. The idea that HBK, a superstar who makes over a million dollars a year, is bankrupt and has to work for JBL is just insanity. Up next we get to see Randy Orton talking to his rag tag faction The Legacy. The Legacy is probably the most pathetic faction that the WWE has produced in recent memory. Manu and Sim âDeuceâ Snuka are nothing special while Cody Rhodes is mid card at best. However to join the group you have to win a match. Cody Rhodes faced CM Punk, Snuka faced Charlie Haas, and Manu faced ECW Champion Matt Hardy. CM Punk loses by countout and then gets beatdown by William Regal, how the mighty have fallen. If you actually think that Snuka was going to lose to Charlie Haas I have some land in Florida I want to sell you. In the case of Matt Hardy vs Manu, this was one of the only good match up of the night. Matt Hardy is one of the hardest working superstars in the WWE right now, usually working at least 2 shows a week, something that only he, The Miz, and John Morrison have a habit of doing. Matt Hardy has the good fortune of being able to make big men look great in the ring. He did it for Mark Henry and he did it tonight for Manu. Hardy got the win with the Twist of Fate and it seems like Manu will have to find a Legacy of his own. We found out this week that Kelly Kelly did the horizontal hulu with Randy Orton and he used her to bury a bone. Will Kane take offense to Ortonâs treatment of his latest stalkie? Stay Tuned Next Week For Another Episode Of The Young and The Useless! Speaking of Kane, he was on a 5-Man Tag match this week that showed off some of RAWâs/ECWâs great talent. Kofi Kingston seems to be getting another slight push after being buried for the past month or so. I will admit, seeing Kofi and Cena hit their moves at the same time gave me a bit of a chuckle. It seems Cryme Tyme will be getting into another fued with Miz and Morrison but this time with the titles on the line and if they can perform like they did tonight, it will not be such a bad thing. Im not a Cena hater so I donât take offense with him âsaving the dayâ with the hot tag and helping Rey get a pinfall over Mike âThe Big Bullyâ Knox. Now we come to the main event or as I like to call it; The Night HBK Lost His Hojoâs. Jericho and Orton have to job out just to set up an 8 minute segment of HBK and JBL was beyond pathetic. HBK takes a Clothesline to Hell and we are forced to see another JBL vs Cena match at The Royal Rumble. At least Cena will once again make JBL his bitch while Randy Orton and Chris Jericho become heavy favorites to win the Rumble match. On the scale of 1 to 10 I give tonightâs RAW a 5.5.
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Here’s a simple review for Raw:
Family Guy was on TBS tonight. They had the episode where Peter and family unearthed the Indian skull….. and wow, Street Fighter was on FUSE tonight. Why mention Street Fighter? Because it, like Raw, tanked tonight.
The only real storyline that had any focus or meaning was JBL and HBK’s continued economic-driven soap opera. This would be ok if I really cared for it.
The ten man tag was a waste of time and really didn’t add much to the show other than it made the live crowd get their heads off their pillows.
The Divas Battle Royal was ok, but it felt like filler too. I was paying more attention to “Glamarella.” Even “The Legacy” tryouts felt forced. The three matches sucked, and it’s not the fault of CM Punk, Matt Hardy, or even Charlie Haas. I think Cody Rhodes is frankly overrated as a wrestler and not nearly as talented as his brother. He doesn’t have Dusty’s charisma or connection with the crowd. Sim “Don’t Call Me Deuce” Snuka hasn’t impressed me from day one. I think they can do something with Manu, but he probably needs a few months off TV…. or on ECW. Same difference. The Legacy storyline is suffering horribly, and if this lame excuse of a storyline isn’t stopped or enhanced somehow, it’s going to look bad on Randy Orton, who is frankly gold for this show. (Did I hear an RKO chant during the main event?!)
One final thought: What does it say about the ECW brand when Matt Hardy walks out with the ECW Championship and Jerry Lawler refers to him as a Smackdown superstar? And the sad part is I don’t blame Lawler because ECW is an even bigger joke than it was a few months ago. Matt Hardy rarely wrestles on ECW but wrestles constantly on Raw and Smackdown. Miz and Morrison often wrestle on both shows as well. Vince is trying to pull an Eric Bischoff on this version of ECW…. only this time, he owns the talent to begin with! Unlike most people, I actually liked this new brand of ECW until the last couple months. If Vince is going to kill this show, he should then just kill it and be done with it. Christian would make a great fit on the show to feud with Matt Hardy, but that’s about as likely to happen as Triple H asking for a divorce.
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I thought that the show had started out with some promise. But is it just me or are they trying the Mike Knox gimmick like Snitskey??? Not sure if that will work. I love the fact that Regal is I-C champ and that they are putting a focus on this belt again. It is one of the most important titles with a rich history. CM PUNK is a good mix to add to it and should be a good feud and match because both can deliver. Legacy hmmmm FLAT, FLAT, FLAT. The thought is great and was going in the right direction but Orton is better off solo and not to be seen as a leader. That role should have stayed with Dibiase. Snuka’s kid is the only one I feel that shows actual promise. Rhodes is just not a wrestlers wrestler. Finally I thought in the main event the crowd is as FLAT as this legacy gimmick. You could hear a pin drop maybe WWE added there out background sound. Just not the best way to start a build up to the Royal Rumble. Would rather watch old episodes of WWF wrestling challenge that Raw.
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Sooo overall tonight’s RAW, the final RAW of 2008 as John Cena so ACCURATELY pointed out to us in his remarks backstage with Stephanie McMahon, SUCKED big time.
First up we have a pretty laughable opening promo with Wittle Wey Wey crying about how he lost last week because of Shawn Michaels, then calls HBK out, HBK comes out, Rey Rey says he respects Michaels a lot but wants what’s fair to him, so challenges Michaels to a match to prove the true number one contender to go on into the fatal four-way later that night. HBK accepts but his boss, JBL, comes out and nullifies the match. Bwa ha ha ha. Sorry Rey.
Cody Rhodes faces off against CM Punk in a mediocre match that showed Rhodes getting his ass pretty much kicked left and right by the Straight-Edge Superstar. A distraction from William Regal gets Punk counted out, making him look like a complete moron. Great characterization, WWE. Thanks! Cody stays in Legacy or Priceless or whatever the hell it is now. Post-match, Punk assaults Rhodes with a running bulldog headlock out of the corner, and then Regal’s knee meets Punk in the face out of nowhere ha ha. Nice. Looking forward to next week!!
Backstage we have John Cena doing unquestionably one of his WORST all-time promos, imitating Michael Cole and ending up sounding like a cross between J.R. and Joey Styles with a hint of some weird Southern accent reminiscent of Dusty Rhodes or Hardcore Holly. Just, God awful. I hate Cena.
Goldust greets us backstage with a Christmas-style promo and it is actually pretty entertaining as he references Bam Neely and other things lol.
The Race to the Rumble Divas’ Battle Royal commences, the winner to go on to face the Champion, Beth Phoenix, at the Royal Rumble for the Womens’ Championship. Beth and Santino Marella come out to provide some very entertaining color commentary. The match itself is rather lackluster. Candice Michelle is tossed out on her rather nice behind very quickly, Kelly Kelly is out next, then Katie Lea Burchill and Jillian Hall are eliminated both by Mickie James, and then it’s down to Melina vs. Mickie, old enemies. Their match-up doesn’t last long and Mickie is eliminated by Melina. Apparently, she’s not hurt at all, and the “injury” she sustained last week was either a selljob or she made a miraculous recovery over a week’s time. Beth comes in to intimidate the winner, Melina, who is slapped by Beth, and then Melina unleashes her rage all over Beth, the fight spilling to the outside, until the plant at ringside, FCW talent Milena Roucka jumps the barrier and mercilessly attacks Melina. Shades of the Tori/Sable feud from 1999. Awful. LOL.
Sim Snuka a.k.a. The Artist Formerly Known As Deuce faces off against a satire of his father portrayed by Charlie Haas in a very uninvolving match-up. Must’ve been better live because the crowd was somehow into it and squarely behind Haas, but poor Haas, of course, did not pull out the victory after a countered Superfly attempt off the top rope. Snuka levels Haas with an impressive jumping calf kick-type kick to the head and gets the 1-2-3, gaining entry into Legacy. I think??
I skipped the 10-man tag team match. Sorry but seeing John Cena, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston & Cryme Tyme team up against (gulp) Dolph Ziggler, John Morrison, the Miz and Mike Knox. Yeah. Definitely a bathroom break match if I ever heard of one. Sorry, Kofi, Miz, Morrison and Ziggler. Catch you next time.
Backstage we see Kelly Kelly talking to Randy Orton about how she cherished the time they spent together and he’s been dodging her left-and-right, and she doesn’t understand. Poor Kelly lol. Orton tells her flat out that he used her, leaving her emotionally broken (or to the best of her 21-year old acting abilities, which are severely limited, to express).
Manu faces off against the ECW Champeen Matt Hardy, the Sensei of Mattitude. This match, for a Matt Hardy match, will NEVER end up on a Matt Hardy DVD if that means anything lol. I found it to be very grueling and it took a long time to build to anything relatively exciting in it. I do however have to give props to the Samoan Bulldozer of Legacy as he did hit some incredible moves, like a springboard moonsault off the second turnbuckle. Hardy counters an attempted suplex off the ropes into a Twist of Fate for the win, and thank goodness, as MAAAN did that match drag on and on. Awful. So, is Manu kicked out of Legacy??? I hope so lol.
The main event sees Shawn Michaels face off against John Bradshaw Layfield as well as Randy Orton against Chris Jericho in a fatal four way match-up to decide the number one contender to face John Cena at the Royal Rumble. However, rules change once the match starts as two men start the match and two men have to wait to be tagged in. And, it’s elimination. What?! Ha ha ha. Anyways besides all those silly new rules of the fatal four-way, the match flat out SUCKED. It was grueling, boring, meticulous, uninvolving and above all else, unexciting. For an Orton match, it was bad. For a Jericho match, it was bad. For a Michaels match, it was bad. And JBL doesn’t really have GREAT matches so I guess for him it was MEDIOCRE lol. AND as for a Jericho/Michaels match, it was SHIT. It could’ve been so much better if it was a frantically paced fatal four-way match where all four competitors fought at once. Jericho is eliminated first, followed by Randy Orton surprisingly, which did indeed piss me off, leaving me with the boss and his employee in John Bradshaw Layfield and Mister WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels. Michaels of course fights the urge to lay down at first……for almost 2 and a half minutes. Ugh. He then lays down. Then, as JBL goes to cover him, he gets back up, fighting the urge again. Now, he’s fighting the urge to lay down even harder. For ANOTHER two and a half minutes, at least, of mind-numbing boredom. As HBK begins reciting prayers with his eyes closed, JBL loses his patience and levels his business partner with the Clothesline from Hell, and follows it up with the lateral press for the 1-2-3. Ugh. What a horror of a main event. Also they definitely deliberately put religious implications/undertones in JBL Clotheslining Michaels, with Michaels praying and all, and then, the second JBL leveled him, Michael Cole was all like “….Michaels has been crucified…..” Thanks, Vince.
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Raw took a huge step backwards from an excellent show last week by putting on a mediocre end of the year show.
It wasn’t a complete bomb of a show, the matches involving the legacy members were pretty good, showing that they all actually possess wrestling abilities, I was actually glad that manu lost his match, I think he is really good and might do better a face and on his own.
The 10 man tag match was decent but matches like that on regular tv are always rushed and better off on pay per views.
Who else felt the result of the diva battle royal was predictable? Ever since melina came back she has been very good, I hope she wins at the royal rumble. Santino was funny as usual, I wish they would do a continuous program with santino and goldust, have them team up, it could be like goldust and booker t back in the day.
A ‘shocker’ revealed that kelly kelly was in love with randy orton, great stuff from orton, brushed her off to the side and kept moving.
The absolute killer of this show was the fatal 4-way main event, the stupid tag-in, tag-out thing was unexpected, then having jbl win the title of #1 contender is so damn stupid, how many times do we have to watch a john cena vs jbl match and now at the royal rumble? I was on my couch hoping that shawn michaels was goin to give him sweet chin music but he laid down, so disappointed in everyone involved with that decision.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
