The following is Richard Gray's weekly RAW Review called RAW IS BLOGGED. Please read it and send him feedback to richard@grayinternet.com with the subject line RAW IS BLOGGED.
Love him or hate him, you at one time in your life were probably a Hulkamaniac, I know that I was. Last night’s episode of RAW featured a segment that was so powerful it was historic. The crowd reaction from the Hulkster making his return to RAW was nothing short of amazing, it was one of those moments where you could feel the chills going down your back whether or not you are a fan of Hulk Hogan. The last time RAW was in Cleveland at the Quicken Loans arena was in November, one night after the Survivor Series PPV, and I was in attendance. What a difference from now and then. When I went there was one of the smallest crowds that I’ve ever seen for RAW (probably 2,000 people or slightly more) and was one of the most depressing moments I’ve ever had as a wrestling fan. After the strong promotion on Hogan appearing, it looked like last night’s event was damn near a sellout and the crowd reaction throughout the night was amazing. I say it week after week and I’ll say it again; a strong crowd can make up for even the most mediocre of shows.
Last night’s show, obviously altered severely after Stephanie going into labor, I felt was a strong way to begin the buildup for SummerSlam. Of course there were segments that I loved, some that I liked, and some that left me wondering who in the hell wrote this crap, but overall I was entertained throughout. I feel like last night’s show had a little something for everyone as it had a decent mixture of promos and wrestling that could keep even the milder fan entertained. Let’s get into the matches.
I once again missed the opening segment due to prior obligations and of course I forgot to record the show on my DVR so I did not see Shawn Michaels’ opening promo. From what I’ve read and what I have heard, it was decent but nothing spectacular. I was thrilled that I didn’t miss Hogan’s promo as I had originally feared. Without seeing the promo there’s nothing that I can really say, but it’s good to see that Coachman was able to fill the shoes of the McMahons. I love it when WWE takes a storyline, incorporates it with real life, which transpires into entertaining television. It was time for The Coach to get another night “in charge” and with Stephanie going into labor; it made a perfect night to do so.
The opening Spirit Squad versus The Highlanders match seemed entertaining to me. Kenny and Mikey I feel are the two most talented members of the Squad and the Highlanders seem to be very solid in the ring as well. I will, however, question the Highlanders getting such a quick rise to the tag titles and then only getting a three minute match to get pinned by a tag team that is rumored to be breaking up anyway. But that’s WWE creative and I guess we have to trust that they know what they are doing whether they really do or not. If anything I’m just glad to see some tag action return to RAW.
Mick Foley’s promos are excellent. He does such a good job of incorporating real life with storyline which makes even the most knowledgeable fans such as myself interested in what he has to say. The biggest problem that WWE is going to have with this feud is that everything that Foley says is turning him into a babyface, when he clearly is slated to be the heel. Ric Flair’s response was equally effective and I like how they are involving Nitro and Melina as well as helping the feud between Edge and Cena. Everything seems to gel very well together and last night’s come-from-behind attack by Nitro on Flair was great to setup the John Cena run-in. Did you hear the crowd pop for Cena? Great stuff, thank you Cleveland!
Trish’s angle with Carlito is fun, it’s about time we saw Trish mingle with some of the talent in the WWE locker room and with Carlito it helps both of their characters as faces. Kane vs. Big Show was announced for tonight’s ECW which makes me accept the fact that ECW is just a place for WWE to put the talent that had no direction on RAW. For those that were hoping on seeing the old ECW that had the “cult like” following, I’m sorry, you might as well buy a DVD, because those days are long gone. It was nice how Todd Grisham came out and made the announcement of Triple H and Stephanie’s daughter. Congratulations to both of them as well as the entire McMahon family.
Some people may be getting tired of the Shelton vs. Carlito matches, but for me, this has been a very enjoyable feud. Both of these guys are excellent in the ring and every time they square off they display a certain level of athleticism that I feel is not matched by many in WWE. It was nice to see Shelton pick up the win because I feel that he is buried far too often and has a lot of potential as an up and coming superstar. I guess Shelton will continue to feud with Nitro for the Intercontinental Title, but I’m sure that Carlito and Trish will still be involved.
Hulk Hogan coming to the ring was spectacular. I mentioned it above, but I will say it again just how historic his entrance made RAW. I’m telling you, RAW did not draw a crowd at all in Cleveland back in November so it had to have been Hogan that drew the people out. Granted it was before the return of DX and ECW, but I still believe the Hulkster has great crowd drawing ability. I thoroughly enjoyed the Orton/Hogan confrontation and disagree with critics who say that Orton was “backing down” from an old man. It came across to be as Orton was more or less “teasing” Hogan and really laid the framework for an entertaining program to climax at SummerSlam. It’ll be real interesting to see how WWE books the match, I myself can’t see Orton losing, but I doubt the Hulkster is going to be brought in only to take a loss.
I’m not a fan of Candice Michelle. I don’t think she has very good in-ring ability and I don’t even think she’s that good looking. On the other hand Mickie is one of my favorites who I feel has tremendous wrestling ability, but she couldn’t carry the match herself. This was definitely a debacle from the opening bell and was only good for the small amount of eye candy. Did anyone else notice the new referee? I’m not sure who he his, but I guess he’s taking Mickie Henson’s place since his jump to ECW. One more criticism I will add is why have titles if they aren’t going to use them? If Mickie was going to get the win, why not just make it for the Women’s Title so we feel like the strap actually means something?
Shawn Michaels dominating The Coach was fun. The Coach has a good on-screen character as an annoying pest and watching him get the hell beat out of him is entertaining. The Spirit Squad running out was a surprise to no one, but why did the referee call for the bell when Umaga came out but not the Squad? I didn’t understand that but I did like how they used Umaga like McMahon “set him up” seeing as Triple H was not in the building. It’s about time they start using the “Samoan Bulldozer” in an effective angle rather than letting him get a weekly squash. There’s nothing more annoying then a squash match.
John Cena’s promo with Maria was excellent. I loved how he questioned Maria asking her if she ate “paint chips” as a kid, and how he recapped the night of chaos. Love him or hate him, Cena is excellent on the mic. The Miz, the Diva Search, I was just wanting it over as quickly as possible. As I’ve said before, the Diva Search is not entertaining for me and I wish WWE would stop doing it. The women are attractive, but they’re wasting valuable time for nothing. I think the lack of crowd reaction from an extremely hot crowd is self explanatory.
Last night’s main event with Edge and Johnny Nitro taking on Ric Flair and John Cena was by far the best match of the night and was extremely entertaining. I love how WWE gave them twelve minutes to showcase their talents, giving a show that already had some great promos in Foley, Hogan, and Cena some quality wrestling as well. Nitro tapping out to Cena drew such a loud crowd reaction it made me feel like I was sitting ringside. It was also great from a booking standpoint as the Edge/Cena feud did not overshadow the feud between the two legends in Ric Flair and Mick Foley while still keeping the IC Champ in Nitro involved.
In conclusion, last night’s RAW was very solid and the ratings should reflect. The show was probably considerably re-written yesterday afternoon and what a great way to get the build up for SummerSlam started. As I said in the beginning of my article, WWE delivered a little something for everyone; we had excellent promos and entertaining matches. As entertaining of a character as Vince McMahon can be, I was glad to get a break from him last night and I feel like everyone else was as well. They had a great draw with Hulk Hogan, followed by build for a semi real-life feud between Foley and Flair, capped with excellent wrestling with John Cena and Edge. WWE wrote a show that should considerably help the promotion for SummerSlam and they did it without some very key components.
Thank you for reading and for your continued support of Rajah.com. I welcome any and all feedback and I will do my best to respond to every email. If you would like to send me feedback regarding RAW IS BLOGGED please send it to richard@grayinternet.com with the subject line RAW IS BLOGGED. You can also post a comment directly related to this blog by going to my website, WrestlingNewsWorld.com, by clicking here. Later everyone!
