Ok that was a great way to open up the 20th anniversary of Monday Night Raw. Honestly I got a little nostalgic for Nickelback for half a second there.
Boy I really wish I hadn’t spent the entire article last week complaining about the booking of John Cena and Dolph Ziggler. If I had waited but just one week, I would have had all the terrible things that happened this week to add to the pile. Now, it might seem that I’m just harping on the same thing, so I’ll have to keep it to a minimum. But this feud has really gotten me curious on the creative side backstage. Sure we are all eager to blame Vince for things like this, but can nobody else (Trips, Steph, anybody?) say something when things are going this wrong? Surely Cena is a big enough star that he can say no if he wants. Can he not see the long-term problems to the company and even to his own character if he continues to win like this?
Ok, one more thing. While the execution of the match (Cena kicking out of four different finishers plus whatever abuse Big E gave) was undeniably terrible, I can live with the idea of Cena being victorious on the 20th Anniversary show. But if Cena and Dolph were going to have a match this week inside of a steel cage, then wouldn’t it have made more sense for Ziggler to win his match last week instead? It would have given a reason for a rematch this week, and could keep the feud at 1-1 as we head toward a PPV where we supposed to care enough about feuds to pay money. What’s more, Ziggler, as a heel, has an enforcer who could have helped guarantee the victory thus giving the reason behind the steel cage audition.
This week some clever fan brought a sign reading “Restroom Break” which was held up during the diva’s match. It was a funny sign. I laughed. But for those who ignored the advice set forth by the sign, they ended up getting a surprisingly well-performed Diva’s match. One that lasted longer than the minimum amount of time possible didn’t end in a roll up pin and in fact ended up being quite entertaining. And it helped that the crowd really got invested in the match as well. Shame that Eve ended up quitting right after that. This may be the one time I’m genuinely interested in seeing a Diva use her rematch clause.
I think I’ve figured out what I truly dislike about Rock Concerts. It’s that Rock never mentions anything about the actual talent or ability of whomever he’s singing about. 99% of the time it’s all about physical appearance with the remaining percent usually a poop joke. I don’t mind a throw away comment about physical appearance when it’s in the middle of a full out Rock promo, but to be the focus of a song that seems to take forever, is what makes the whole Concert concept really grating.
Anybody catch JTG on Raw this week? You might need the frame-by-frame option to see for this one. When is the last time he’s actually been on screen? Because this is how long JTG has been employed by the WWE.
So I know that the Shield is supposed to be a heel faction. And I know that they are supposed to be feuding with Ryback. But the Shield has stated that they stand against injustice in the WWE. But if that were at all true, then what problem could the Shield possibly have with Mick Foley being inducted into the hall of fame. I really like the idea of the Shield but for it to work their actions need to echo their original goal. It shouldn’t be that hard to keep them heel if that’s what you want. Faces get more preferential treatment in the WWE than anybody else.
Speaking of Foley, I have long waited for the man to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Foley has always been my favorite and I’ve happily followed him from Mankind, to Commissioner, to his multiple books, to his standup career. All I can say at this point is congratulations, and it’s about time.
