What’s up wrestling fans? I’m back with another look at Monday Night Raw, a show that emanated live from The Cajundome in Louisiana, and featured the end of one game and the return of another.
Last night’s Raw was very up and down for me. It pushed story lines forward in some departments yet short changed us on in-ring wrestling, which I suppose is something I’m just going to have to get used to on Monday nights. It seems as if WWE has reverted its focus back to a period when Smackdown was the "wrestling" centered show, and Raw was the over-the-top, entertainment based show. I don’t have a problem with this model under one condition: the entertainment provided on Raw must be good and for the most part logical. My biggest problem with Raw last night was that the thread of logic seemed to disintegrate as the show progressed. Comedy bits with talent like Goldust and Hornswoggle continue to disappoint, and on top of that the one match which featured the best wrestling on the show, Priceless vs the Colons, was barely hyped and mostly unappreciated by the creative team. That said, let’s take a detailed look at The Good, The Bad, and the Wrestling from last night’s Raw.
THE GOOD
The Vickie Guerrero segment was very well done. It’s a shame to hear that Vickie has tenured her resignation from WWE as she is arguably the most over heel in the company and consistently draws more heat than virtually anyone on the WWE roster. While her work as of late with Santino/Santina has been less than stellar, her ability to draw hatred as the Raw GM has made her very successful in that role. I do, however, absolutely respect her decision to spend more time with her family, and wish her the best of luck in the future.
Once again the conspiracy theorist sect of the Internet Wrestling Community has reared its head and are blasting WWE for the good-bye segment they ran with Vickie and Edge last night. Comments such as, "Vince just did that to get back at Vickie for leaving," or "Vince is pissed Vickie is leaving so he buried her on TV," have become commonplace and of course I am not surprised.
SHE IS A HEEL PEOPLE!! Arguably the most hated heel in the company, it only made sense that WWE write her off TV the way they did last night. What were they supposed to do? Buy her a cake and sing her a farewell song as the roster kissed her feet and threw rose pedals at her on her way out of the building? Nonsense. She is a heel, and she was treated as such last night. Having Edge come out and address their marital situation was a great way to put a cap on that storyline and finally admit what we all knew to be true since the beginning; that he was using Vickie for her power. WWE did the same thing with Bischoff when he left and they ran the garbage truck angle. These characters are heels, and if they are leaving TV, then it’s only fitting that the audience watch them fall apart and quit the company in ruins and in personal anguish. It preaches the moral that the bad guy never wins. Simple pro wrestling 101. So to all those who thought it wasn’t classy of WWE to send Vickie off like they did, get off your high horse and remember that it’s a TV show for God’s sake.
The opening beat down of Batista last night was great. Very effective physicality and everyone involved sold it well. I don’t too much like when the announcers put something like that over as the most "disgusting thing they’ve ever seen" since much worse has happened to wrestlers in these kinds of angles, but nevertheless this was an excellent opening to the show and set up the rest of the program with a "what’s gonna happen next" attitude.
I love that MVP came out and simply inserted himself into the main event picture. That was the kind of attitude he presented to Randy Orton when he debuted on Raw and I think from now on we need to see him at the top as opposed to wavering back and forth between the top and the middle of the card. WWE has to be careful with MVP and not rely solely on him saying "ballin" too much and begin to add more layers to his character as he enters the title picture. That aside, however, I really liked this segment last night as it was succinct and put him directly in the mix for the WWE Title next week on Raw.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
