Wrestling’s 4R’s Friday Edition 07.10.09: Raw Reviewed!
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 07.10.2009
The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase returned to run Raw for the night, Randy Orton had to fight his young protégé, Mark Henry destroyed Cody Rhodes and HHH and John Cena battled for the right to challenge for the WWE Title! The Friday edition of Wrestling's 4R's breaks down all the action from WWE Raw!
If you haven't already, make sure you bookmark 411 or better yet, set us as your homepage! As always, thanks for choosing 411 for all of you pop culture needs!
By: Jeremy Thomas
Raw 07.06.09
The Right:
A MILLION-DOLLAR OPENING: Raw kicked off in San Jose with one of the most fabulous theme songs of all-time, "Money!" Out came none other than the Million-Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase Sr. AND HE HAD THE BELT! That's right, the greatest pimp in the history of professional wrestling—sorry Godfather, but it's true—came down with the Million-Dollar Belt over one shoulder. Damn, I love that thing. Priceless was at his side, making their way down to the ring. The crowd was very into the elder DiBiase like no one's business as he explained that he bought his guest host spot. He then put over Priceless more in a few moments than months of being Orton's goon squad have even begun to. It's very simple here; to get people over, you need to pair them up with people who the fans really care about and who are willing to actually put them over. It's getting harder and harder to care about Orton, and taking Sledgie shots from ‘H isn't putting Rhodes and DiBiase over one bit. Apparently Ted Sr. was unable to book a title match for Raw, but he WAS able to book a match for Night of Champions—namely, Priceless vs. Rated Y2J for the Tag Team Titles. You know, I'd really like to think that this means Priceless will actually win the belts as a silver lining to the dark cloud of Edge's injury, but I just have a feeling that Jericho's going to find himself a tag partner and they'll go over the duo. Which, as long as it's someone tolerable-to-good, I wouldn't mind one bit. The whole point of this segment was to tease dissention between the members of Legacy. Ted booked Cody in a way to punish him and then booked his son against Orton. A face turn for Ted…they must be planning ahead for The Marine 2's release in December already? Hey, if they have booking plans that last beyond a month, it's improvement for the Raw Creative team and I'll take it. Ted finished it off with his trademark maniacal laugh and exited the ring as the crowd actually popped for the whole segment.
Now, I'll admit, I was very, very skeptical when I heard about this guest host thing last week. Actually, that's a lie—I freaking hated it. But this was a perfect example of how it could be used. Ted had a legitimate, in-story reason for getting a guest host spot and the idea of the Million-Dollar Man buying a guest host spot from Vince—who just paid WAY too much to buy Raw back—makes absolute sense. Ted is also a fantastic talker and he proved that tonight as he did a fantastic job here. I don't think it will always be this good and I still hope they put an end to it somewhat soon, but this was an example of how it could work really well.
TED DIBIASE vs. RANDY ORTON: Early in the show, Ted and Cody were flipping out over Ted having to wrestle their Legacy boss when—speak of the devil, look who showed up. Orton got Ted's face and told the younger DiBiase to tell Daddy Dearest to call it off, which turned into a bit of pissy one-upsmanship between the two. Orton pointed out that there's no way Ted was beating him and Ted pointed out that his father was better than Randy's could ever dream of. The end result here was Teddy telling Randy that he was going to win the match. This whole dissention thing is being booked well, other than the fact that it's been teased too many times now. Still, the tension between Orton and Teddy was good and Cody trying to play peacemaker made for a good chuckle.
Randy came out first for the match and got the crowd solidly against him so that Ted could get the rub by virtue of being Randy's opponent. Sure enough Ted got a bit of a pop from the crowd; maybe he just might work as a face, we'll see. They gave these two guys just under eleven minutes and they certainly made the most of it. Randy sold for Ted quite well and did a lot of good for DiBiase Jr. here; Orton was dominant in parts to be sure—as he should be—but Teddy's refusal to say die and near-falls got the crowd solidly behind him and actually made him look significant, if not necessarily a threat to the WWE Champion. Sure, they had DiBiase come back to Legacy at the end but this set the seeds for a potential face turn and seemed to me to be their test to see how the crowd would react. This worked really well—and better yet, Orton and DiBiase looked pretty decent in the ring together too.
A SWAGGER IN THE VIP LOUNGE: Before the VIP Lounge, we got to see more of Montel and Shari Shepherd doing their thing by showing up at the BET Awards. Really, I don't care about that anymore. MVP quickly got the crowd into the return of the Lounge by referencing Trump and DiBiase, and then invited Swagger down to the ring. Swagger got a solid heel reaction from the crowd on his way down to the ring, which was encouraging. The two butted heads a little bit from the start before MVP called Swagger a fraud for letting himself be counted out. Swagger looked around with a bit of a Sad Panda look as the crowd booed him, before getting his groove back and taking it to Montel. They sniped about colleges a bit before Swagger brought up Porter's legitimate prison record for armed robbery and kidnapping. That's right folks…the shit just got real. Swagger then called himself the only real MVP on Raw, and Montel then addressed his past fairly frankly got the crowd solidly behind himself by owning up. They did the face-off and then Swagger backed away, saying that fighting MVP was "beneath him." This was a great segment that showed some phenomenal work between Montel and Swagger, and the feud between them should be pretty impressive. At the very least, my expectations are high.
JOHN CENA vs. ‘H: Earlier in the show for ‘H, and just before the match for Cena, they had a couple quick interviews where the Game and SuperCena both promised to do whatever it took to win the match and get a shot at Orton for the ‘E Heavyweight Title. The crowd was super-into both men of course during their entrances, with both more or less getting pure babyface reactions. Vintage Cole and Lawler hyped this up to no end as we got the stare down between the two men in the ring, and then they were off. We also finally got a payoff for the whole WWE Universe thing as Michael Cole said "Perhaps no two superstars have been able to generate so many mixed emotions from the universe like these two men." Getting a little metaphysical there, aren't you Mike? Cena and the H-Man did some good jawing at first to make this feel like a big match, and built the match up into something that really felt worthy of being a Raw main event for the first time in a while. Cena and ‘H have always worked well off each other, and you can always count on them to deliver--as much as some within the IWC hate them. It was well paced, it told a good story and kept the crowd in the match throughout. The end was fairly necessary in order to get them to where they wanted to be, and to avoid giving away a Cena/'H ending on free TV. Also, it had Priceless get one over on two main eventers—however briefly before they high-tailed it. Of course this backfired on Orton, as Ted then decided to book Orton against BOTH Cena and the Game. Now, if they put Orton over both Cena and Hunter, I'll officially stop bitching about Orton's credibility for the duration of his title reign. Of course, I don't think that's gonna happen…but we'll see.
puRgatoRy:
RATED Y2J vs. THE COLONS: Before this match, Edge and Jericho came down to the ring long enough to star down the departing Priceless. It was a great little moment and I'm curious to see what they do with Edge's injury mudding the waters. Carlito and Primo then came down to a pretty good fan reaction, during which they reminded us of Carlito and Primo's dissention tease last week. This was a non-title match, which made sense this time around considering that the Colons lost their rematch and Ted Sr. had announced no title matches tonight, and for the time it got it was very good. Edge and Jericho did a good job working over Carlito and then sold the hot tag and offense from Primo very nicely. This only had about half the time the same match got last week but that was perfectly fine, they can't devote that much time to a rematch of a rematch and for the five-plus minutes they got they did some great work. Primo went down like a man, taking both a Codebreaker and a Spear in order to get the loss. Unfortunately, they made a very bad move as they decided to turn Carlito heel by attacking Primo. Don't get me wrong here, folks…Carly Jr. makes a great heel as we've seen in the past. But two things really bugged me here. First, there was no reason to split up a tag team that had some really strong momentum, even with the title loss. It's not like the ‘E has a whole host of great tag teams lying around, and this is just going to lead to the inevitable brother feud that I don't think will go as well as the ‘E thinks. Second, we all know what happens when Carlito gets unmotivated and angry. Frankly, I don't want to see him getting a title win just to keep him mollified, but I do think that his tag team with Primo had done him some major good. And (again) frankly, I don't care if Carlito lets himself become sloppy and pissy, I just don't want to hear about it again…it's annoying. Decent match, poor feud booking, which makes it a wash to me.
ALICIA FOX & MARYSE vs. MICKIE JAMES & GAIL KIM: Alicia Fox and The Butterfly Champion made her way out to the ring first as Lawler made a rare astute nod to continuity by calling Alicia a former wedding planner. Maryse and Alicia were all buddy-buddy; I bet Michelle McCool's wouldn't too pleased about that, but I digress. Out came Mickie and Gail next to a pretty good crowd reaction. We finally saw Maryse and Mickie lock horns here and the result was…not particularly fantastic. It wasn't terrible or anything but it didn't give me feelings of happiness at seeing them lock up at Night of Champions either. On the other hand, Gail and Alicia were a bit more hit and miss, putting on both the most fun spots in the match and some of the most awkward. The end was odd, with the girl who's not challenging for Maryse's title beating the champion cleanly. The point seemed to be putting Gail over strong now that she's on Raw, but it took focus off the well-booked Mickie/Maryse story a little and all in all this just seemed…there and not much else.
CODY RHODES vs. MARK HENRY: Before this match, Cody came into Ted Sr.'s office and tried to pay him off so he wouldn't have to face Mizark. This lead to a phenomenal segment between the two where Ted got Cody to talk about Dusty—and even sing Dusty's "Common Man" theme music! Screw all the terrible humor folks…that right there was damn funny. Ted then made his position clear about Dusty and tore Cody a new one. Even better, he kept the damn money! Seriously, why can't Ted be the full-time GM? I wouldn't complain one damned bit.
Cody came out first for this match, looking more than just a wee bit hesitant about the match—Lawler called the look "concern" which was more than a little understatement. Encouragingly, Mizark got an impressive little pop from the crowd as he came down to the ring. I'm hoping that this continues so that Henry can keep riding the momentum a bit. Unlike some of the matches tonight that were decent matches but weak booking (see elsewhere), this was an iffy match that was booked well. Mark was made to look dominating and yet Cody didn't quite get squashed in the ring, choosing instead to let himself get counted out. This made the World's Strongest Silverback Gorilla look good for a second week in a row and didn't completely kill Cody's momentum heading toward Night of Champions. The match could have been a hell of a lot more, but by necessity of the booking it was kept short. It can't quite crack the Right, but I didn't mind it much at all.
The wRong:
KOFI KINGSTON vs. EVAN BOURNE: I'll admit, I was pretty damned excited for this match. Kofi's a guy that I see a lot of potential in and Bourne is of course phenomenal. So, of course, they gave us about three minutes of them. What's more, the two came out there and delivered a rushed, sloppy match…presumably due to that short time. Don't get me wrong, it could have been a lot worse, but damn if I didn't notice a lot of awkward or imprecise moments in their high-flying offense. Sure, some of it was booked that way but it still didn't work to me. What's more they had Bourne pin the U.S. Champion in just over three minutes, just so that they could have Show come out and flatten the both of them for another minute. Assumedly, some combination of this will be the U.S. Title match, and with an iffy match last week and this particular mess, I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
The Ridiculous:
DID YOU KNOW?: Nope. And, as always, I don't care.
The 411
I love that Raw is really coming back over the last few weeks. Ted DiBiase Sr. made this show work very well with his incredible work, the VIP Lounge stuff was great and Orton/DiBiase Jr. and Cena/'H were both very good matches. Not everything else worked, but enough did for me to give Raw a very solid rating this week. Gotta love it, folks.
SHOW RATING: 7.5
From Kyle:
I hope WWE gives Jericho a break so he can continue his awesomeness. I am bummed though about Edge he is my favorite wrestler out there.
I'm pretty sure we're all bummed about Edge, Kyle. Well, except those disturbed folks who do things like cheer when someone they don't like is legitimately injured. But yeah, I think Jericho needs some rest time so he doesn't end up like Edge. Whether or not the 'E will give it to him is another story, but we'll see.
From Guest#6851
It was mentioned in the comments last week, but when Cole brought up Michelle McCool being the new Women's champion, Maryse's response was fantastic and perfect for her:
"Yes, my #1 fan. She was in tears last night (after beating Melina). I don't know why. She didn't beat ME."
I totally appreciated that and feel it's an example of how Maryse really has potential as a character and on the mic, 6851. She's capable of pulling out those little gems, it's just too inconsistent for her to really be considered good at commentary at this time. I do think it'll come though, in time.
From KanyonKreist:
Damn, JT, you really don't have a sense of humor. I mean, 99.9% of the humor in WWE is predictable and often painful to watch, BUT it's often well-executed when you're talking about guys like Santino and Cryme Tyme.
I think the "Word Up" segments are a legit way to get Shad and JTG over. Cryme Tyme have delivered believable, relatable performances thus far, and while they aren't what I would call funny, they are getting two moderately talented guys over. In other words, they aren't total time-wasters like the Santina stuff.
This isn't ROH; in WWE, you don't need to deliver a high-impact 25-minute match to make a name for yourself. They've got at least a dozen alternatives, and some of them work pretty well, depending on the talent.
It's okay not to have a sense of humor (no it isn't; you'll die by the age of 50), but that doesn't disprove comedy segments' abilities to get superstars over. You just need to broaden your perspective a bit.
Shit, even our beloved ECW (you know, the Extreme one from the 90s) had plenty of comedy. No wrestling promotion can live on cane shots and german suplexes alone.
Again, I wasn't complaining about Cryme Tyme in that segment, or Eve. In fact, I gave them credit for making this one work as well as it did and not fall into the Ridiculous; they were actually pretty funny. The problems I had were two-fold. First, Cryme Tyme don't get any more over just by being funny anymore. They need to get it done inside the ring as well, not with a 25-minute classic but just with some actual in-ring work. They've built them up with segments for several weeks now and had an occasional match or two; they should keep working on the matches to convert that crowd reaction from their personalities into crowd reactions based on them coming to the ring to win matches. The other part that I had a problem with is this: yes, Cryme Tyme and Eve were pretty good here. Jesse wasn't. He's trying hard, gods bless him, and I give him credit for that, but he just wasn't funny. I challenge anyone to say this is going to get him over more than he otherwise would have if he'd just been Country Boy Jesse. I don't think anyone can do it with a straight face.
From 4dayslater:
For The Brian Kendrick & his random tag team partner : &with Edge out : How about Brian declares Jericho to be his partner? Instant win.
You know, I would totally appreciate that. They could make a pretty decent comedic duo with Jericho being repulsed by Kendrick but they still keep winning, both men can go in the ring very well and it would get Kendrick over huge by virtue of being Jericho's partner. Sounds like a winner to me.
From jbardo:
The Punk/Hardy build up has been excellent thus far, cant wait for Punk to go full heel & lay into Jeff by talking about his drugs issues.
Also i hope Jericho finds a new partner rather then just give up the tag titles, Ziggler would be a decent choice me thinks.
Another potential choice for Jericho that I think I could buy into, though perhaps not as strongly as Kendrick. Still, there is potential in a Ziggler/Jericho team. And you're not the only one who can't wait for the full-fledged turn; should be fun.
From 123:
jeremy, you are a DUMBASS
no X-Division??>. and what are bashir and kiyoshi? heavyweight guys?
Hi 123...I'm Jeremy Thomas. That was Wilcox who posted that. Thanks for reading though!
From sal minella:
Jeremy Thomas: "the Pulp Fiction theme song" is actually Miserlou by the legendary Dick Dale. The song is over fifty years old so to refer to it as the theme song for Pulp Fiction is a disgrace.
Hi sal...I'm Jeremy Thomas. That was Cook who posted that. Thanks for reading though!
From Shockmaster:
PUNK TELLS JEFF TO JUST SAY NO: While neither man is above average on the stick, the writing just continues to shine. I marvel at the patience and creativity they're using. This stands to not only cement Punk as a heel in the end, but get Jeff even more over if that's possible.
REY REY vs. KANE: You know two guys have faced each other too much when one of them has been away for months and my immediate reaction to their pairing is "AGAIN?!".
CM PUNK & JEFF HARDY vs. RATED Y2J: The match itself was fairly forgetable but the story it told was great. It's staggering to see this feud develop when compared to H/Orton. If Vince really wanted to pillage Smackdown he should have moved the bookers to Raw.
DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. R-TRUTH: I had no problem with this. Ziggler is getting pushed while Truth runs the treadmill. It was brief, but K-Kwik's moveset is fairly shallow, and for that matter Dolph's may be too, so the shortness didn't bother me as it usually would.
JOHN MORRISON & TEDDY LONG SING: I could even laugh off the Boogeyman, but this left me stunned. How they could tape this, review it, and green light it to air is a mystery. If Morrison's ring skills weren't stellar, this sort of promo could kill his crowd reactions.
We're completely on the same page about the Morrison/Long crap. There's no way that I can imagine that SOMEONE within the creative team didn't think "Oh, this is just terrible," but somehow it still got through sadly. I can kind of see that argument on Ziggler vs. Truth, but I still didn't think that it got Dolph over too much because he didn't beat Truth dominatingly, just quickly. In the end I think it could have been worse, though. Everything else we pretty much agree with, other than Punk & Hardy's mic skills, but we've long since agreed to disagree on that.
From Marty:
Why do you Jeff Hardy Day-Glo? That makes no freakin sense
J.R. likes (or used to like) calling Jeff the Rainbow Warrior (or, other times, the Rainbow-Haired Warrior). Alsol, Jeff used to use (and occasionally still uses) glow-in-the-dark, Day-Glo style paint on his body. Also, Rainbow rhymes with Day-Glo. You do the math.
LARRY'S RANKINGS THUS FAR
2009 PPV Rankings:
-ROH RISING ABOVE {8.0}
-WWE NO WAY OUT {8.0}
-TNA SLAMMIVERSARY {8.0}
-[TAKE NO PRISONERS] – Tyler Black & KENTA vs. Austin Aries & Katsuhiko Nakajima (****¼)
-[ROH RISING ABOVE] – I QUIT MATCH: Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries (****¼)
-[TNA GENESIS] - Kurt Angle defeated Jeff Jarrett (****¼)
-[TNA GENESIS] - X-Division Title Match: Alex Shelley defeated Chris Sabin (****¼)
-[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – X-Division King of the Mountain Match: Suicide vs. Lethal vs. Creed vs. Sabin vs. Shelley (****¼)
-[WWE NO WAY OUT] – THE RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER (****¼)
-[WWE EXTREME RULES] – IC TITLE MATCH: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (****)
-[WWE EXTREME RULES] – WORLD TITLE LADDER MATCH: Edge vs. Jeff Hardy (****)
-[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – TNA World Title King of the Mountain Match: Foley vs. Angle vs. AJ vs. Joe vs. Jarrett (****)
2009 PPV MVP AWARDS: Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.
-[TNA GENESIS] Sabin, Shelley, Angle and Jarrett – Rocking The House
-[ROH RISING ABOVE] – Danielson and McGuinness - Defining the ROH World Title
-[WWE ROYAL RUMBLE] – RVD – The Joke Pays Off
-[WWE NO WAY OUT] – EDGE – The Ultimate Opportunist
-[WWE WRESTLEMANIA] – HBK and The Undertaker – Stealing the Show
-[ROH CAGED COLLISION] – Nigel McGuinness – Better Than You Sugar Nuts
-[TNA LOCKDOWN] - Christopher Daniels – Pulling Double Duty
-[WWE BACKLASH] – Edge and John Cena – Stealing the Show
-[TNA SACRIFICE] – The TNA Roster – Making the Best Out of Shitty Booking
-[WWE EXTREME RULES] – Rey, Jericho, Edge and Hardy – They Are Awesome
-[TAKE NO PRISONERS] – Tyler Black, KENTA, Austin Aries and Katsuhiko Nakajima – Main Event Excellence
-[TNA SLAMMIVERSARY] – Daffney and Taylor Wilde – Two Hardcore Bitches
-[WWE THE BASH] – Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho – Making the Show Worth It
2009 TOP TV Match Rankings:
I will update as often as needed.
-Edge vs. Rey Mysterio - (Smackdown: 06.05.09) {****}
-Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 04.25.09) {****}
-Evan Bourne vs. John Morrison - (ECW: 04.14.09) {****}
-Christian vs. Jack Swagger - (ECW: 02.24.09) {****}
-Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena - (Raw: 01.12.09) {****}
-Edge vs. John Morrison - (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***¾}
-Edge vs. Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk - (Raw: 06.08.09) {***¾}
-Edge vs. Jeff Hardy - (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***¾}
-CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho - (Superstars: 05.21.09) {***¾}
-Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black – (ROH on HDNet: 05.09.09) {***¾}
-Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries – (ROH on HDNet: 04.04.09) {***¾}
-Beer Money vs. Team Canada – (Impact: 02.19.09) {***¾}
-Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles – (Impact: 01.22.09) {***¾}
-CAGE MATCH: Edge and Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy - (Smackdown: 06.26.09) {***½}
-WWE TITLE LAST MAN STANDING MATCH: Randy Orton vs. HHH - (Raw: 06.22.09) {***½}
-WWE TITLE MATCH: Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. HHH vs. Big Show - (Raw: 06.08.09) {***½}
- Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk- (Smackdown: 06.12.09) {***½}
- Chris Jericho vs. John Morrison - (Superstars: 06.11.09) {***½}
-Jeff Hardy and R-Truth vs. Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler - (Superstars: 06.04.09) {***½}
-Christian vs. Tyson Kidd - (ECW: 06.02.09) {***½}
-Edge vs. Chris Jericho - (Smackdown: 05.15.09) {***½}
-Rey Mysterio vs. Shelton Benjamin - (Superstars: 05.14.09) {***½}
-Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho - (Smackdown: 05.08.09) {***½}
-Edge vs. Kofi Kingston - (Superstars: 04.23.09) {***½}
-John Cena vs. Chris Jericho - (Raw: 04.20.09) {***½}
-Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin - (Smackdown: 04.17.09) {***½}
-Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy - (Smackdown: 04.10.09) {***½}
-Primo vs. The Miz - (ECW: 03.10.09) {***½}
-Edge vs. John Cena - (Raw: 03.02.09) {***½}
-Lethal Consequences vs. Motor City Machine Guns – (Impact: 02.19.09) {***½}
-Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin - (Smackdown: 01.09.09) {***½}
Posted By: theiceone (Guest) on July 09, 2009 at 11:32 PM
RAW Was very good this week .
I love the guest host thingy they are doing .
RAW Will only get better as HBK will return soon .
Posted By: HBK 4 (Guest) on July 09, 2009 at 11:35 PM
I wonder if WWE creative is still stealing ideas from Paul Heyman. In his last blog for the Sun he mentioned getting MVP over as a face by using his past and how he overcame it to make a connection with the crowd, and lo and behold this seems to be happening now!
Posted By: The Baron (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 12:29 AM
I'm so ready to see HHH take on Orton and Cena! It's gonna be EPIC! HHH will go down in history as the greatest of all time!
Posted By: HHH Rulz (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Hands up who expected a Triple Threat for the wwe title at NOC even before the finals? It was predictable considering WWE would never let Cena or HHH not be on the card of a ppv. God forbid either should challenge for the US title.... Nooooo. Wat do we get for NOC? A rematch of Mania 24. Same champ, same challenger. Wat a thrown-together match. NOC looks like shit. I know there are still 2 weeks left to build but seriously.
WWE title - mentioned.
World title - Punk v Jeff (should be only good match on card)
ECW - Christian v Dreamer
Diva - ?? (who cares)
Women's - Mickie v Maryse
US - Show v Bourne v Kofi (i'd rather see MVP v Swagger for the title. All american american. Now wat title would be perfect for him? Hmmmmmm)
IC - ?? (unless its Morrison v Rey, i dun care)
Tag titles - ?? (no edge. takes the shine off of it)
The only match i care about is punk v jeff. Not enuff to warrant spending money on it, im afraid. Night of champions. indeed.
Posted By: Yawn (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 12:50 AM
ummm...
ECW Reviewed???
Posted By: Sean (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 12:59 AM
Hmmmmmm.... I guess we forgot to edit the template headline since ECW was on Thursday this week?
Posted By: Guest#6668 (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 01:05 AM
Hey Larry, can we please have the Punk vs. Morrison match from Smackdown on you best of tv matches. I think the match was amazing and I thought I saw it on the list once.
Posted By: EDGEHEAD (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 01:53 AM
John Morrison is the shit, that shit was great, only t-lo bring it down
Posted By: i like a redbone (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 02:26 AM
Where's the ECW R's?
Posted By: Nick Noel (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 02:36 AM
I see RAW, but where is ECW?
Posted By: William (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 02:51 AM
Thats what pisses me off, when HHH can go out and make himself and Cena look good but he continually burries Orton. All we want is a contest!
Posted By: Brad (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 06:36 AM
jbl will always be a million dollar man wannabe. yeah jbl was a wwe champion and dibiase was not but dibiase was always better
Posted By: Guest#3509 (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 06:54 AM
The R's for ECW will be up in the Tuesday column, since ECW was aired just last night.
Posted By: Jeremy Thomas (Registered) on July 10, 2009 at 08:30 AM
"Well, except those disturbed folks who do things like cheer when someone they don't like is legitimately injured. "
Thats me everytime HHH gets legit injured :)
Posted By: Big Poo Johnson (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 08:47 AM
A MILLION-DOLLAR OPENING: This was the first time in ages that I had no itch to FF my DVR during a Raw talk segment. It was, well, priceless.
TED DIBIASE vs. RANDY ORTON: This was perfectly executed. Ted looked good without Randy ever looking weak. Now why hasn't Randy been booked this way all along?
A SWAGGER IN THE VIP LOUNGE: Maybe Vince DID put the Smackdown writers on Raw this week. Another nice segment and it built toward something fresh.
JOHN CENA vs. ‘H: I hate both of them, but this was a good match. Nothing anywhere near great, but nothing to harp about. We now get ANOTHER Mania rematch, and it's basically impossible to deliver anything new. The triple threat guarantees whining after and two of them facing off at Summerslam.
KOFI KINGSTON vs. EVAN BOURNE: Why couldn't Show have come in during the match and done the same thing? Nobody loses, Show gets heat for breaking up an anticipated match, everyone wins. This was another case where Bourne looked like Macho Man '95, hitting one move and dropping the elbow, er, SSP for the win.
Posted By: Shockmaster (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 10:06 AM
MVP and Swagger's confrontation in the VIP Lounge was the most compelling segment I've seen on Raw this year. I mean it! Now why the hell can't we put Porter in the main event scene already? Swagger has just gotten started, but MVP has been consistently delivering the goods for over two years now!
Posted By: KanyonKreist (Registered) on July 10, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Why is there not a recap of TNA????
Posted By: Guest#5110 (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 11:51 AM
"jbl will always be a million dollar man wannabe. yeah jbl was a wwe champion and dibiase was not but dibiase was always better
Posted By: Guest#3509 (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 06:54 AM"
Meh. I think DiBiase had the better overall character and did a better job of getting the right crowd responses vs. JBL. But JBL was always more tolerable in the ring. A straight brawler who made his opponents look great and turned whoever his opponent was at the time into the most popular guy on the card. His matches usually maintained a nice pace even though he didn't have much of a moveset.
DiBiase, on the other hand, was always dishwater-dull in the ring, particularly in the WWF. For all of his "scientific" wrestling knowledge, DiBiase was incredibly over-reliant on chinlocks, headlocks, and various other restholds (let's not get into the debate on "psychology"; It's simply boring!) He sold like a champ and his other moves were crisp, but I've never seen a DiBiase WWF match and thought "that was awesome!"
In fact, Randy Savage, the original "Mr. WrestleMania," was barely able to get a watchable match out of DiBiase at WrestleMania IV, easily the worst WM of them all. The match barely went 9 minutes and of course, DiBiase's use of rest holds played a significant part of those 9 minutes.
So while DiBiase is great for nostalgia and can work the mic like it's 1987 all over again, let's not try to pass him off as this exciting, must-see talent in the ring.
Posted By: Brad B (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 12:45 PM
I don't think they'll have another guest host as good as the million dollar man. what was so good about him is they used him in a story line that fit. I really hope when they planned on doing this they were prepped for a long term deal. or they could be window shopping for a gm.
Posted By: DOOM (Registered) on July 10, 2009 at 02:01 PM
Please can you change the MVP awards?
HBK/Taker and Cena/Edge having the same tag just annoys me for some reason.
Posted By: Oooh...Chavo! (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 03:25 PM
I am hoping they give the Swagger/MVP feud enough of a push because it could really be epic. As to Orton going over Cena and H, I think Orton will win but I think it will be another sly/sneaky win instead of just a clean win.
Posted By: blackwolf79 (Guest) on July 10, 2009 at 03:37 PM
I wish that I.R.S. had made a cameo during RAW.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on July 11, 2009 at 08:54 AM
What's up with all the love for Orton vs DiBiase Jr and Triple H vs Cena? Neither one of them was flat-out bad but both were incredibly mediocre and honestly I found them extremely boring. This maybe because I've become bored with these characters for one reason or another (although mostly for booking reasons) but as much as it bored me I could still agree that Orton and Triple H did good work in their most recent Last Man Standing match, but the two big matches from the last RAW just seemed dull to me.
The established star vs new star match has been seen a lot lately however while the likes of Morrison looked like an exciting star of tomorrow DiBiase Jr just looked like a jobber given too much offence. Everything DiBiase Jr did in his match was generic and he did nothing to prove he deserves the push he will inevitably get thanks to the latest WWE films 'masterpiece'. A lot of people are saying DiBiase Jr looked good but to me he just seemed mediocre, especially considering Yoshi Tatsu blew him out of the water only one night later in a much, much better match. Perhaps he'll do better later but for now I'm just not sold on DiBiase Jr as anything but what he is now, a glorified jobber.
As for Triple H vs Cena, they tried to force an epic feeling which just wasn't there, they exchanged basic holds for 10 minutes before going to the predictable ending. Sorry but are half an hour headlock reversed into another half an hour headlock does not a good match make. It's possible I fell asleep before they did anything good or maybe it's just my apathy that's playing tricks with my mind but I really don't remember this match as anything but boring.
Thank God for DiBiase Sr, who actually breathed some life into this show. Now why couldn't he just be the GM every week?
Posted By: 17 (Guest) on July 11, 2009 at 06:39 PM
Reading my argument back I feel I have to point out I'm not saying all new stars need to do a shooting star press or something. Some wrestlers can make even the simplest of moves look good, while others (like DiBiase Jr IMO) just make them seem generic. Flashy moves certainly make things more interesting like in the case of Yoshi vs Shelton, however even the simple stuff in their match seemed to flow naturally in a way that the two big RAW matches just didn't seem too IMO.
Posted By: 17 (Guest) on July 12, 2009 at 04:34 AM
Copyright (c) 2011 411mania.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
Click here for our privacy policy. Please help us serve you better, fill out our survey.
Use of this site signifies your agreement to our terms of use.
