Ten Thoughts On Raw – 09.09.2008

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

Unforgiven was pretty good. Let’s see if Raw breaks it’s streak of “kinda crappy the night after a PPV” shows.

1) I called the new music/Titantron thing on Jericho incorrectly. I don’t know why I’m harping on it… it just seems like it’s time. First of all, nu-metal’s 35-second window closed 8 years ago. Secondly, the countdown thing has conditioned people to pop for the last decade, so the crowd is like “OHH COUNTDOWN YEA…er… boooooo”. Thirdly, I want evil, corporate, suited Jericho music. Not edgy, rocker Jericho music.

2) Speaking of Jericho, I was getting ready to make another comment about how the no-blood policy kind of ruins the aftermath of a solid beating. Jericho got punched in the face roughly 50 times to close the match last night and they can’t even paint on a black eye? Then he took off his shirt and displayed the bruises and cuts from the belt whipping and I was more satisfied. In other news, Jericho must have told Michaels “whip the sh*t outta me” which raises him two more levels of hard.

3) I do find it interesting that they are giving Punk a cage match on Raw… though I fear for the beating he’s going to get by Newvolution and Jericho. We have to call the no-contest finish at this point, right?

4) They tried this “pretend to be other people” gimmick with Big Show a while back. They dropped it when he was doing it. This is furthers my notion that the WWE has joined TNA’s “try everything that’s ever happened in wrestling ever”. Although… garnering a “CHL” chant is the most over Haas has ever been. That, and he stole my TDL beer pong gimmick.

5) So, Rey got his firebird mask things tattooed on him. He’s putting over a new flapping his arms thing. Am I assuming that these tattoos and the stuff with Kane foreshadowing him losing his mask…. again?

6) Boy, if they liked tag teams, Bourne/Mysterio would be a good one.

7) I can’t hear enough of Priceless’s music to know who it is, but I can hear it enough to know it’s fraggin terrible. What is going on with the music department lately?

8) PSA: The Honk-a-Meter has reached 3. Santino has held the belt for 19 days longer than Mountie and is, therefore, 19x better than the mounter.

9) I have to be honest. I love the Adamle character. The “take no gump, you will do what I say” angle kinda works. He’s not really a face or a heel… just kinda demands respect. He’s what the Mr. McMahon character would have been without Austin. I also can’t doubt the random, unexplained picture of Ronald Reagan… which is a nice touch.

10) Not really understanding the bit where Adamle comes out 30-seconds in to the main event and declaring it a handicap match with JBL being Jericho’s partner. I guess they’re going for some kind of “wackiness” as Adamle learns the job? I don’t know. Why wouldn’t they just announce it as a handicap match or show us why Adamle decided to change his mind. Other than that, good callback to last night as Jericho slides in the ring to steal a pin after Clothesline From Hell. JBL gives Batista the business post match to start this feud. So, I guess we have Jericho/Michaels, Batista/JBL, and Punk/Newvolution to get us through the fall. Oddly, they almost seem to be lining up to have actual Survivor Series matches at Survivor Series. Also, can they really make Michaels/Jericho last until Wrestlemania?

Not much of a Raw, really. Looks like it was a placeholder to blow off the PPV storylines and build toward next week and the October PPV.