Raw Thoughts - August 17

· When WWE has these odd little fetishes about using certain words (i.e Skull not head and so forth) you wonder why. They now seem to be all over the word “group” Orton says it for Legacy, and now they are taking about DX being the most controversial “group” ever. I understand them not using ‘stable’ but why not faction or something? Group sounds so weak.
· Awesome to see Santino back doing what he does best. So, so funny. I loved it when he told Lillian not to laugh because Terrorism was very serious. Nice, fun, relaxed opening. That was really cool.
· I like the Orton thing too. I like it when incidents happen that make you go ‘wow’ and then wonder how it will be resolved. Admittedly it will probably end in Prinze putting himself in the tag match at the end somehow and more ordinary folk pretend to be wrestlers, but it was a cool spot, to be fair.
· I like how Jerry Lawler went to check on the Guest Host. Kind of like the King checking on the Prinze.
· There’s another one – Medical facility, not hospital. Who is in charge then, if Prinze is out of here?
· While we’re on it, I heard Goldust quite fancied the guest host. Dustin for Prinze?
· Good, solid match between Kofi and Carlito. A decent enough length. I like both of these guys, but I’m sure they would look any better in a longer effort. That said, good set of false finishes, even if Lawler and Cole did ruin one, after a neckbreaker by Carlito, by giving it the old “that must do it....” Whenever they exclaim that a match is surely over, then it surely isn’t.
· Shouldn’t the Miz have to be the Calgary Kid, since that is what it would say on the contract?
· Shame that Bourne had to lose in his home town (in fact, shame he lost, in general) but it made sense to lose to Miz, who deserves a run, and it was another good match. Huge thumbs up for Raw thus far.
· That being said, very little has been said about either Orton or the state of the temporary GM. I might have kept updating that.
· They’ve managed the DX deal well tonight. Two good video packages – the first a good look back on stuff they’ve done, and then a set of clips that actually made the chef skit from last week look good, which it most certainly was not.
· I love Jillian, she’s so over-the-top she’s hilarious, and that was a fun little walk through the back. I am really, really enjoying this show so far.
· That’s good booking with Legacy and DX. Tease the reunion and the usual antics, only to have the heels beat them down. Straightforward wrestling booking. Make the heels nasty, evil bastards who spoil the fun. Then hope people pay to see the babyfaces kick their arse all over SummerFestSlam
· Wow, I wasn’t expecting to see Mickie v Kim this quick. It strikes me they could have saved this for a future PPV. Maybe they’ll start a build with this.
· That was a decent divas match until what looked very like a botched finish. Real shame. The other note from this is that the crowd was dead, and the wrestling was very, very good for much of it. These are as good as women wrestlers get on this scale, and nothing. I hope no-one in the back holds this against Gail and Mickie too much, because the crowd are dead due to them having nothing to care about. Build up a several week programme between them, which they did very effectively with Mickie and Maryse, and the crowd will care.
· I don’t care for that kind of Cena promo. Too stupid and too reliant on ‘poop’ jokes and that old standard of Big Show eating somebody. But if that is what we get rather than Hornswoggle and Chavo being ridiculous, that’s not too bad. A little Jericho saved the seg.
· Strikes me that there isn’t enough mention of Cryme Tyme challenging Jericho and Big Show for the titles. I don’t think it’s been mentioned.
· I don’t mind Swagger and MVP only going seconds before the DQ, but I’d had have them fight to the back.
· Spoke too soon on Horny and Chavo, then.
· You could have had them run under the ring, the ref follow, and count the three. It says anywhere.
· Horny wins. He beats Chavo. He wouldn’t have beaten Joe Pesci though.
· I swear I wrote that before I saw.......Macauley Culkin! That was a fantastic cameo. Really, really funny.
· Speaking of Joe Pesci, his children stopped Freddie Prinze doing a Scoopy Doo follow up. If it wasn’t for those Pesci kids........
· Wasn’t a bad main event, but a bit muddled at times. It was too hard to work out who was face and heel, so the crowd didn’t know who to cheer.
· I didn’t really care for the end. Cena did for Jericho and Show a little too quickly and easily for my liking. I thought the RKO out of the celebrations was terrific, but Cena getting up soon after to rid the ring of Jericho and Show didn’t sell the big RKO spot whatsoever.
· Enjoyed the show overall, Prinze undersold the role really, but worked in context.