Raw Thoughts, March 30th - Final Raw before Wrestlemania delivers, big style

· So that’s 18 Divas in the opening contest. Was there anyone from WWE (other than those injured) who was not represented? I guess that means 7 guest spots open.
· Vaguely pointless match. But Santino’s appearance got a huge pop in the arena and in my house for the Jack Tunney reference. Daft stuff, but mildly amusing.
· Jericho and Lawler serves as a passable piece of TV to continue the build to Jericho’s Mania match, but showed exactly why the thought of these two facing each other at the big one itself was rightly ditched at an early stage.
· Another nice little touch by Michaels. Didn’t ham it up, but just appearing and saying “expecting someone else”. I’ve loved this build-up, and can’t wait for the match.
· They showed Lawler coming back to ringside, and I couldn’t help but think that Jericho should have attacked him from behind. That would have been just perfect. Jericho backs out of a fight after the match, and then cracks Lawler from behind like a coward. Makes sense to me.
· I don’t like showing a match on Raw that will feature on the Wrestlemania card, especially since it basically went nowhere, had a break in it, and featured some action at the start of the match you would expect to see near the end.
· I would suggest the idea will be that the Rey winning means a few people will tale this to mean that he’ll win at Mania and thus will buy the show for the joy of seeing Myserio win a title.
· Dull match with Cena and Show, but interesting to see Show win clean and perfect character booking for Edge to appear and feast on Cena’s carcass post-match. I really don’t know who’ll take this match, you know.
· Another tremendous HBK/Undertaker segment. Although there were a few extra points I’d like to make:
o Kudos to Shawn for mentioning 24 years and not 25.
o Where did he get that black eye and cut on the nose from?
o Nice nod to history in that the attacked always comes from the casket, and this time it looked that way twice and didn’t happen.
o Shame the Superkick missed.
· Fun little Battle Royal. Common sense to have Kane win it as he has traditionally been good in that kind of match. I was disappointed they didn’t reference Punk’s elimination of Kofi, seeing as they won the Tag Titles together not long ago and now Punk is throwing him out of the ring.
· That final segment - the final segment of Raw before the biggest show of the year, remember -was absolutely tremendous.
· I thought Orton’s structure explanation of all his actions was cold, calculating and well put to get the fans to strongly book him. Then, the Limo arrival, which I have to admit had me fooled. I fancied a Triple H sneak through the crowd, a demolition of Rhodes and DiBiase before an RKO and a closing scene of Orton standing tall over Hunter with the title belt. Instead, we got Shane and Vince, with a crowd going batshit insane.
· Perfect pacing, beautiful setup, and I couldn’t be more ready for Wrestlemania.
· Taxi! London Heathrow airport, please. I’ve a plane to catch.

Raw Thoughts: February 23

· Really looking forward to this Raw. Solid show last week, did really good numbers, and this is built well for whether Triple H will show up, whether Koslov will show up, the HBK/JBL match and any progress with Cena, Jericho and co.
· Decent enough opening segment, to set up event which were to come. I thought it ran out of steam a bit when Cena tried to get too jokey after having a serious moment.
· Good call to make Vickie temporary GM. I like the idea that wrestlers should jump between shows with more freedom at this time of year to build momentum towards Mania.
· Did you see Big Show cough when he came through Edge’s pyro smoke? Nice touch, that.
· Orton turns up with Legacy in a flash car. Is it just me or is this the first time in years that Raw actually feels like something big. Like in the old days when Austin/McMahon and the attitude era ruled. We’ve started the show with Cena, Edge and Show. Three big names. Then Orton turns up and you are thinking about whether Triple H will show up in pursuit. Jericho to come, HBK/JBL to come, in a situation to do with Undertaker. Money in the bank qualifier. This feels legitimately like a big show, pardon the pun.
· Yeah, show the sights of downtown Nashville. Maybe show the headquarters of TNA, and say it’s home to J-E-Double F, haha, J-A-Double R E-Double T.
· Why is Roberts doing the announcing? I can’t stand that guy. He doesn’t speak like a real human, it scares me.
· “Every person that has won Money in the Bank has become World Champion.” Says Cole. No they haven’t. Kennedy didn’t. He got injured, lost the briefcase to Edge, who won the title.
· John Morrison hits a shooting star press from the apron to the outside – and it’s during the advert?!? Someone in this equation is an idiot – either Morrison for doing it at that point, and agent for booking it at that point, or a production guy for going to an ad at the wrong point or not telling the wrestlers.
· Not a bad triple threat. I didn’t care for the contrived nature of some of the spots, and unless they are doing something with Miz and Morrison splitting, I don’t really see why Punk couldn’t have just got a one-on-one victory, but it was serviceable, and credit should be given for letting the match go for a while. Not the usual Raw three-minute wonder.
· Hey Shawn, well done, you beat JBL. Your reward is to try and get a half-decent match out of Vlad Koslov. All the best, sir.
· I thought the video package about last year’s Wrestlemania was a build to bringing Jericho out to talk about Flair again. Disappointed not to see Jericho so far.
· Pointless, that. Knox annihilates Noble. This doesn’t help the likes of Kane or Knox. It just makes Noble look a chump. You are expecting him to last seconds, so if someone took, say, four minutes to beat Noble, you’d think this guy was useless, even though he won. And we don’t need someone to get slaughtered every week, because we already have Santino.
· That should have been a great segment between Jericho and Steamboat. Ricky started slow and got better in his promo, and his message ended up very strong. However, the live crowd in Nashville didn’t seem to embrace him. I don’t know if the demographic wasn’t old enough or educated in wrestling enough to remember him, but his reaction didn’t seem to be at the level it should have been.
· That Cena v Chavo match (“Match”) was a farce. It is ludicrous to do stuff like that. It helps no-one. It doesn’t elevate Cena, it doesn’t roll the story along. It just makes Chavo look like an idiot.
· A great show has stagnated during the two hours, generally. Orton and Trips need to pull out a big final seg to grip for next week.
· Well.....not bad. I’m glad Trips didn’t get to Orton, because it makes for much better programming if he can’t catch up to his quarry, but must instead take several weeks chasing him down, culminating at the big one.
· That ending is going to get a lot of stick, I can feel it, but I don’t think it was that bad. The Shane stuff was ludicrous, and the only reason this will get so much flak is because it comes off of those mistakes. Hunter chasing maniacally and Orton begging off is fine. Heels are allowed to do this. Orton needs to get at Hunter at some point in the next two weeks, with some sort of three on one attack, maybe even bloodying The Game. Then you have a couple of weeks where he gets Cody then Ted, but Orton escapes. I certainly wouldn’t have them wrestle each other in any manner. It will heighten the tension far more.

Raw Thoughts - Feb 2

· Two things to note from the opening two minutes of Raw. It’s in St Louis, and Shane is out first. How babyface will Shane try to be? Orton is in his hometown.
· There’s intrigue and teasing, but Orton took an age to get to the ring. That was outright boring.
· Shane having the Kendo stick was a nice touch. That was fine, he needs to put over the fact that he can use his smarts to outgun Orton.
· The fact that the match No Holds Barred throws one major question up at me. Will Cody and Ted interfere? Because if it is no DQ, then why shouldn’t they just attack Shane throughout? I wonder if maybe Randy will make an agreement with them, or with Shane, that it maintains 1 v 1.
· Standard booking to allow Regal to get his heat back and make you think he has a shot at taking the IC title back.
· Pathetic ending to a match in the tag contest. Why can’t Priceless just beat Cryme Tyme. They are the ones receiving a huge push, and Cryme just need two weeks of singing to their fans to get back their place in their hearts.
· Booking finishes to matches like this and then having a spot after the match is educating the audience (even more than previous) that the match outcome is irrelevant and the matches don’t matter in the slightest. That’s not a good route to go down.
· Interesting to and fro with Jericho and Cena. I would have preferred that Cena hadn’t called Jericho an “idiot” but aside from that it was ok. Interesting that Jericho talked hardly at all about Mickey Rourke but loads about Ric Flair. And is all this just a big ploy to plug the “Legend of Wrestlemania” video game?
· Really, really good tag match with Rey and Kofi against Kane and Knox. Brilliantly paced, and with the old school set up of the two menacing big men as heels, against the high-flying, brightly coloured babyfaces.
· I really liked the backstage attack too. Well executed, including the sneaky backstage camera shot which caught The Legacy plotting, then a stiff-looking attack on Shane which took out Steph too. I really like the get out clause they’ve given themselves about why Orton stops and looks at what he has done. Making him seem more unhinged makes him a more credible threat.
· Oh, and by they way, when agents broke it up why was Mike Rotunda dressed like a supply teacher? Bring back the business threads, Irwin! We want red suspenders!
· “The Harts had a match for the ages, but it was Shawn Michaels who stole the show” Ouch. Take that Bret
· Standard Beth fare. It makes sense to make her look nice and dominant in her quest for the belt back. However, I question having her look so good and to feature Mickie and Layla at some point, but to not see Melina at all, even for a 30 second backstage promo.
· More good Michaels and JBL stuff to a point. Michaels doing the “teeth down the throat” line was daft because Cena had already done it. But to me the match and the stip is a daft one.
· If JBL and HBK square off, who the hell else goes into the Chamber?
· Oh, there we go, that was quick. It’s Kane. Sound logic I guess, since it shows Steph trading off to get Taker to Raw, and sets up a stacked Raw next week. More on that in a moment.
· I’m not crazy about Kane being allowed in after Kofi beat him, because it makes Kingston’s achievement mean a bit less. However, he was the only man left who could fit it.
· That being said, it’s a poor line-up for the match. Jericho is the only credible challenger really. Although maybe the thought is that Cena will win and everybody knows it, setting up Orton v Cena at Mania. Make Orton v Shane and JBL v Shawn, in addition to the Smackdown Chamber which looks more interesting, and it’s the basis of a decent card.
· Decent main event. Decent to good. It was standard fare until near the end, but a really terrific sequence to end it. You often get that with Jericho, he is the master of the exciting finish.
· Decent Raw, and it’s built for next week. Undertaker v Orton and Flair to appear should bring people in.

Raw Thoughts - 26 Jan

· Strong Raw opening with sound reasoning and a new approach to simultaneous apology and defiance.
· The only negative thing to the opening Orton speech was that he could have been cheered for what he did. However, the “you suck” chant seemed to put paid to that.
· Interesting that Orton admitted to being the father of a newborn child. Didn’t he (kayfabe) sleep with Kelly Kelly a month or two ago?
· Pretty basic filler with the Mizorrison v Cryme Tyme match. Very standard stuff – I have little, either positive or negative, to add.
· Why would anyone sanction the HBK v Cena match to let JBL into the Chamber? And why didn’t JBL at least attempt to explain the actions of his employee during the title match last night?
· Do you know what? I nearly wrote down that I thought this would be a perfect sort of match for Kofi to win and get a helping hand to the next level. But I decided it was never going to happen, so left it.
· I’m really pleased that they’ve chosen to put Kofi over Kane there. It gives him a short-term boost and adds his brand of wrestling into the Chamber match. Put Kane in the chamber and he won’t win anyway, so you may as well have Kofi, who also obviously won’t win but will offer some more interesting fare.
· Rourke v Jericho? That’s not the bigger story for me. I’m more interested in the fact that Jericho kept talking about Flair. If Rourke gets in the ring is Flair going to be in his corner? Does that mean Naitch will be at the Hall of Fame for Austin?
· A slightly weak start to a Jericho v Rourke feud. After seeing Mayweather get involved like that last year, it might have been cool to put Rourke in the ring and have Jericho attack him or for Jericho to somehow wangle an appearance on a TV show and attack Rourke there, for extra publicity.
· I think they don’t know what to do with JBL and HBK now. They’ve done the double superkick and don’t know why, and are floundering. That exchange with JBL, HBK and Cena offered nothing.
· Classic stuff from Santino – “JR, have you been working out?”
· Spectacularly idiocy from the commentators, acting like they couldn’t work out who attacked Melina. Well who else would it be? That is a stupid, stupid move to let the announcers do that, because it means the audience won’t trust anything they say, since the audience will have worked out it was Rosa straight away.
· Mysterio in the Chamber makes perfect sense. That makes it Rey, Cena and Kofi.
· I liked the fact that they played up the fact that Jericho and Punk actually had a history rather than ignoring it like they sometimes do, but you just got the feeling the match couldn’t really be any good because it was so rushed.
· I can’t decide if I like that ending to Raw or not. I don’t like the fact that Shane was made to look tougher than all three of Legacy. I assume we are looking at Shane v Orton then at No Way Out. Was that the ‘bigger plan’ or is there more to come from Steph and Shane. What was the purpose of the roster standing on the stage?
· More questions than answers leading to next week, which I suppose is a good thing. Now looking forward to seeing what the Hardys have to say on Smackdown.