WWE RAW Review -- 08/28/06
First of all, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for bearing with us during our audio issues. It's really out of our hands, meaning our hands are free to wring the necks of the folks in charge of the service that have failed to give updates at all about their issues. But instead of wringing, we restrain and stand defiant in the face of adversity.
DJ FULLY'S TALKING POINTS FOR RAW
Edge and Cena will battle in TLC -- No big newsflash, but I thought from the announcement by Cena that he'll go to SmackDown! if he loses, to Edge's interference in Cena's match with the "leaner and meaner after his sabbatical" Chris Masters, it was a well-thought-out angle. The SD stip adds another level of intrigue to a feud recently revitalized by a hot couple of weeks of stories. Edge and Flair proved TLC can be done in a single's environment, and Cena has always had his best matches in street fight and brawl matches. I'm looking forward to this one.- Lita blabs that Trish is retiring -- I'm glad they're addressing this prior to Trish leaving. I'm assuming we'll see Trish and Lita at Unforgiven, adding yet another match with build-up to the card, which is already shaping up very nicely for a non-Big 4 show. Trish, in my mind, is the greatest female wrestler of all time, and leaves an amazing legacy that will be hard to live up to. Here's hoping she goes out with a sense of satisfaction, as she has certainly provided us with a lot of Stratusfaction over the years.
- Building matches...what a concept! -- With three weeks to go before Unforgiven, it appears we have TLC for the WWE Title, Hell in a Cell with the McMahons and Big Show versus DX, Orton/Carlito, Trish/Lita, Kane/Umaga and Nitro/Hardy for the Intercontinental Title. That'll be six matches with about five weeks build, and likely more to be developed in the next few weeks. It feels like 1999 all over again (I can't feel wrestling's 1998...I wasn't a fan yet), and it feels damn good. When everyone has direction and rivalries and time on-air, everyone wins, especially the fans. Good job to the WWE writers...and I almost feel dirty saying that.
DX and the McMahons, Take 43 -- ...and ACTION! Look, I'm as sick of the rivalry as anyone. As much as I praise the writers, I just don't think they have anything for DX after the McMahons, so they're leaching blood from their dry turnip. I'd say they got a drop out of it with the announcement of the Hell in a Cell and by adding Big Show. Will this be a classic HiaC? Absolutely not. A handicap cell match hasn't been done to my knowledge, and could be a logistical nightmare. But the McMahons typically pull out acceptable matches, and if this is the blowoff to this (endless) drama, it should be decent. Finlay, Regal and Kennedy didn't come out looking great after their loss to DX, but at least they got some time on a show with viewers.
Overall, another strong RAW building towards a pay-per-view I'm more excited about than SummerSlam. No amazing matches (Hardy/Orton was the best), and the crowd wasn't all that hot in Atlantic City, but the show was good nonetheless.
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Photos from WWE.com
6 comments:
The prof along with myself watched RAW and it was indeed a pretty good show. Strong builds for Unforgiven. Prof made the same comment of how Unforgiven was going to be better than their "Wrestlemania of the Summer" Summerslam. I would have to say the are pushing Jeff Hardy straight out of the gates hard. I mean, come on, he's got PYRO now! Good match between him and Orton. Plus it built some more on the Carlito/Orton feud. No way Cena is going to SD! so he will win at Unforgiven. Sad to see Trish go, as she is a great women's wrestler who's earned my respect over the years from being Test and Albert's manager to multi-time Women's champion. DX/McMahon's still...well, it's DX/McMahon's. I like it, but yes its stale. The beatdown was good. Would have like to seen Sabu come out and attack Show, thus building that feud (if that's what they are trying to do). Well, that's about it, I'll hang around and wait for audioblogger to kick back in.
"Here's hoping she goes out with a sense of satisfaction, as she has certainly provided us with a lot of Stratusfaction over the years."
- Gayest Line EVAR! But it is true.
- Yes, building storylines feels good when we get five weeks to crave something. Making the fans hungry for something is the way to go. You just can't pop in a microwavable dinner for a ppv buildup... it's gotta be grandma's home cookin' if you understand that analogy.
- Krazy KoRy
Overall I was satisfied with the show, I didn't hate it. I'm bummed to see Trish go because it's the loss of yet another female wrestler as opposed to just a pretty face. THat leaves us with Mickie James and Victoria, who we never see. I don't include Lita because of my intense loathing for her and her complete lack of ability in the ring. On the other side, thinking of Trish's career does remind me that she started off like all of the women we have coming in now, she was a fitness model, not an indy worker. As for DX/McMahons, well, it was good to see DX left laying for once. About time the McMahons actually got one over on them. Too bad it came at the expense of three of the best things going on Smackdown. In the future, there should be a rule that Kennedy gets mic time, no matter what. On a final fun note for me, the "Atlantic City Police Officer" that was in the shot the whole time next to Shane and in front to Trips? "Deviant" Michael Hutter, aka a friend of mine and the current Absolute Champ in AIW, aka the fed I do play-by-play for. Also good to see Claudio Castagnoli in the same role as he's a genuine good guy.
To add something about the police officers thing...
I don't mind them getting indy workers to play the police officers. But they should be choosy of who they pick. I know it's not regulation to have long hair or a crazy beard if you are going to be a police officer. I'm not discriminating on any of the workers they got to do it either, but shouldn't the police look like police and not indy workers. You can't tell me that bald guy with the megadeth beard was a police man. I wouldn't believe it.
They did the same thing a few months back in San Antonio when HBK threw piss on McMahon. The workers were all from Rudy Boy Gonzales' school. Rudy Boy was the only one I would buy as a police officer. And thats just because he has normal hair.
I went through a fire academy which has kind of the same rules as a police academy and we had to be clean shaven, only moustaches allowed. No long hair or you got in big trouble. Enough on this rant, I just remember seeing the cops last night and laughing my ass off.
- KraZy KoRY
Marc already mentioned this but it bears repeating, Unforgiven looks to be a better card than Summerslam? I don't know why they would use their second biggest PPV as a build for a monthly, but that's what happened. Here's what we can presume to be the card:
IC Title
Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro
Carlito and Trish vs. Orton and Lita
DX vs. McMahon's/Show in a cell
Umaga vs. Kane
TLC
Cena vs. Edge
BTW...I love the fact that Edge said he'd go to Smackdown rather than retire or quit. This way there is still some doubt as to the winner. It is possible that Cena will get send to the C show for a while so that he can stay in the main event or even instigate a merging of the brands.
I have a feeling the Orton/Carlito and Trish/Lita stuff will be kept seperate. It doesn't make sense for Lita and Orton to team rather than Edge and Lita. I don't see any way to make sense of Edge letting his woman team with anyone else.
Of course this is the WWE Creative team. Why start making sense now?
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