In Perspective: The Three Things RAW Did Right
It’s really amazing how WWE can produce consistently bad television and then give us a more than half way decent show out of no where. RAW did three things correctly on this St. Louis, Missouri edition of RAW: promoted the upcoming ECW PPV on Sunday CORRECTLY, the first draft pick being the WWE Smackdown champion John Cena and building up Batista as a strong champion against Triple H.
Personally, enjoy the ECW teasers, it brings the fans of ECW back to the good old days where everything wasn’t a over the top production and wasn’t so damn predictable as well as the insaneness of Paul Heyman’s vision and the talented crew of men and women who at one time or another was on the roster. I hope there are more surprise appearances on the show but I’m really looking forward to old school Dudleys microphone work (which if done now would be bleeped every other word), Eric Bischoff to sell a big bump of some sort and all the Hardcore Icons who agreed to be apart of this show such as the Sandman, Sabu, Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney. If WWE tries to inject too much of “their” talent to “stop” the ECW PPV it’s going to be a grave mistake, I understand the angle but this has to be executed carefully. I felt the angle used on RAW this week was appropriate, it gave me something that I don’t get to feel much anymore: anticipation to what will happen next. That’s magic, that’s magic WWE needs and WWE should consider keeping ECW around in the future in some form if this takes off like it just might.
WWE draft has begun and seeing John Cena as the first draft out was pretty exciting. I still got to see “money” in Christian and Cena so I’m pleased there. It’s a good teaser, depending if WWE decides to keep Cena on RAW. There are no rules on the screen, and there are no lottery balls that occurred last lottery if I remember correctly so that gives WWE a chance to revise down the line if they feel the need to. There seems to be a possibility that Chris Jericho man turn on John Cena with his tweener comments on being a WWE performer and pursuing a music career as well as saying he had the best debut in the WWE and how he became the first Undisputed Champion the last time two champions were on one brand. WWE can’t keep both champions on one show unless Smackdown is going to tank. The logical step seems to be to take the winner of Batista and Triple H and ship them to the other brand.
The Hell in the Cell will be what it always is, a brutal structure, a brutal match and a dangerous career move for both men. It makes you and it could break you physically. I think it clears a row on your Bump Card. Having said that, this has to be the last match for a while and I felt Batista came off as very strong in this contract signing. He didn’t stutter, and he seemed focus and where he needed to be. I felt compelled watching it and normally these things don’t even phase me anymore because contract signings over the years in wrestling are completely overdone. I personally hope the strap doesn’t return to Triple H but there seems to be a more than likely chance than last time. The best interest for the WWE is to let Batista hold it until Summerslam and give it up to a new opponent.
In other happenings on RAW:
-What did Victoria do to get stuck with the promoless, unexplained Heart Throbs? Granted they all matched in ring wear but not only does she get stuck with a team getting pushed for no reason for the fans to care and she still gets out-crazed by Christy Hemme? While Trish Stratus is out, apparently this is all there is to the Women’s Division left. Quite sad affairs for such a thriving division half a year ago.
-Speaking of sad, WWE Diva Search 2005 hasn’t been cancelled.
-Chris Masters gets some blood in his mouth and doesn’t convincingly act heated as he has on nameless plants in beating Val Venis. This is such a pointless push. I’d much rather watch Simon Dean and Maven.
-WWE seems to be teasing a breakup with Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari and Daivari keeps getting pinned when “they” lose. We’ll see if Stone Cold Steve Austin can get that kick started. It’s going to be nice seeing him on TV again, however, Eric is now Steve’s biggest fan? Did anyone notice his glorious promo saying Stone Cold was bigger than Vince McMahon? Mr. McMahon couldn’t be pleased with that, when is anything bigger than McMahon? When did Eric feel so strongly that Austin n was a superstar? It certainly wasn’t when he fired Austin when he was hurt in WCW.
-Kane needs to find his backbone and I can’t wait to see Trish Stratus back. Trish needs to cash in on Edge and Lita’s make out sessions, it’s such gimmick infringement of the messy kisses of Trish and Christian from their previous storyline on Chris Jericho. It’s also telling, Edge still can’t get as good as heat as Lita can.
-Apprantly there are only two matches for Vengence so far? Triple H versus Batista in Hell in the Cell and Kane versus Edge.
-Something I want to get into another time, apprantly the days of building up divisions around titles are dead.
Here’s hoping Smackdown can build off of RAW’s momentum before the ECW PPV as well as the next draft pick and that’s putting it in perspective. Thanks for reading and I welcome your feedback at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
