I don’t want to be right sometimes, but I was. I must have tuned into the same energy of the WWE writing staff because of course Umaga did the run-in to save Federline in the opening match, which set up the obnoxious handicap match (if this hasn’t turned off the viewer already, oh wait, they can’t switch to Monday Night Football this time! You could choose college football, but I’ve never gotten into college football. Clever, Vince clever!!) with Johnny Nitro, The Coach, Estrada and Umaga versus the humble-supposed-top-babyface-and-World-Champion, John Cena. I also figured out that Victoria was going to punk Lilian Garcia because she wasn’t on the list and it looked like Victoria and Melina were wearing the same brand of pants. Mickie James of course makes the save before Lilian jobs again (I wonder if there is a drinking game with the writers, how many times can they embarrass/punk out Maria and Lilian’s characters on TV a year).
Watching K-FedUpWithYou at anytime is a painful experience. I get that he is supposed to be the heel, but unless he gets more than a F-U (which is all we got kids, lame, but I understand they want to “protect” him during the match so they won’t get sued), then the fans can’t feel a payoff. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is how K-Fed wanted to do the Masterlock Challenge with Cena and yet Chris Masters NEVER at any point of the night seemed to object or feel insulted by K-FedUpWithYou’s pathetic use of the (laughable already but at least Masters has a build to him) hold.
Sadly, this leaves the door open for K-Fed again to make an appearance (please God, not at WrestleMania unless you can pay Britney to do a run-in), because he was never embarassed, he got a (tainted) win over Cena (what a good sport, what a company man) and took one gentle F-U. It makes me miss Stone Cold Steve Austin even more, can you imagine FedUpWithYou taking the Stone Cold Stunner?
The what-else on RAW:
-Shaq (and the rest of the Miami Heat wrestling fans) were in the audience and Shaq got to do the wallet-gag with Cryme Time. Good to know Shaq is still a wrestling fan, instant flashback past Kazaam and into his Hulk Hogan/WCW wrestling stint days.
-Congrats Charlie Haas and Jackie on the birth of their child, even though WWE won’t mention it on TV for obvious reasons.
-Lance Cade surely looks like he bulked up. He of course did the Shawn Michaels (second rope) Elbow.
-Rob Conway, there you are. We know how misused you are, the push and then de-push in your Buff Bagwell/Scott Steiner gimmick. Bye, Rob, Jeff Hardy had a easy night tonight. Maybe you can join Matt Striker in ECW now. Maybe the sometimes-Lunatic Eugene will make a similar bet and get out too.
-Vince McMahon thought he would be self-indulging and get some cheap heat off of Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell’s feud. Another less than classy moment by Vince. I think he’s hoping the news will pick it up since they were paying attention with K-FedUpWithYou on the show. He probably hopes Rosie will care enough to mention it in her blog or on The View.
-The Kenny Dykstra promo was strange because he had to “go there” with the recent deaths because everyone has threatened to kill off Ric Flair’s career over the years. Sadly all this really means is Kenny is getting pushed and Flair is getting destroyed again by Rated RKO with no-DX save again because, of course they already left the arena. Wouldn’t you think by now, that as many times as Flair has gotten beaten up with DX not there, they’d “quit leaving the arena” so early? I understand though, it’s to set up Kenny’s Owen Hart-like career and Rated RKO some more heat into their match with DX for the PPV on Sunday.
-The DX promo was interesting because of Shawn Michaels shoot-ish comments which seemed to be out of left field, but he was able to bridge it together at the end. Who was he talking about exactly? Kurt Angle came to mind with the “greatest in-ring performer” line and I wondered if VKM was solely exclusive with the curtain-jerking comment or if he meant that for guys like Chris Masters too. He then bridged it to being about Rated RKO and their ball set, then Triple H did some strange psychology from making DX sound like Frosted Mini Wheats (are they the next sponsor?) and then, just like that, it’s over. But DX was certainly over in Miami, and DX is still the hottest product in the WWE.
I want to conclude and say that the evolution of John Cena, and I have disagreed with the WWE direction more times than not with their face-push of Cena, really derails when you have to be the “special attraction” match with K-FedUpWithYou and THEN have to face the undefeated Umaga. Of course they couldn’t risk Cena really getting punked out in a 4 (or 5)-on-1 before the PPV even though, logically, that’s what you expect to happen. It’s great that Cena didn’t care about being DQed, but with no mic time before the PPV, I feel like Cena is just now going through the motions. He’s not the hottest product on RAW now, so he gets no special treatment (there’s a fine balance between special and overexposure) and therefore, the WWE championship doesn’t feel all that special. Actually one of the biggest problems in the WWE is the championships in general don’t feel that special. People get into feuds that have nothing to do with advancing or striving to the best in the company. That part is lost, the psychology to want to be the best, to have the belts really mean something again, as DX reminds us that they are the standards of what it takes to last in the WWE. I expect Umaga to win the championship, probably tainted and not cleanly, and to hold the belt to at least WrestleMania, depending how the audience reacts to his reign, with someone like Triple H going back to the throne as the one to defeat the monster. It’s really hard to book past Umaga because they have yet to make him even remotely vulnerable.
Always remember, for things to change, you have to make movement. Thanks for reading and for all the feedback, feel free to contact me anytime at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
