2 Raw, 2 Furious 10.19.09

Posted by Ryan Byers on 10.20.2009

The Raw brand makes its final push towards Bragging Rights, while Byers & Lansdell tackle the show as well as the US Flag Code, marijuana use, Jack Tunney, and much more!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to 2 Raw, 2 Furious, the only column on 411mania which gives you the real-time thoughts of myself and Mr. Chris Lansdell regarding all of the goings on of Monday Night Raw. This is the last episode of the show prior to the company's Bragging Rights pay per view, and they're coming off of program from last week that I was not a huge fan of. Will the promotion be able to pull things together and take the build for Bragging Rights from ho-hum to a humdinger? Let's see!



Pre-Show Scuttlebutt

Chris: Quick, name a good Shane McMahon promo
Ryan: I never really thought he was that great of a promo. Not embarassingly bad, but I don't think he ever cut a classic.
Chris: Point proven. The closest he ever came was the "Which way did he go?" story.
Ryan: If you think of it, he never even really cut "promos" in the classic sense of the term. He did interviews that furthered storylines, not promos that were designed to talk people in to buying live event tickets or pay per views. I've been thinking about that distinction a lot lately reading about Lou Albano's career in the wake of his death.
Chris: Is this your next crusade? Stopping people from using "promo" to mean "interview"?
Ryan: I don't know if it's a crusade per se, but I may start bringing it up to the point that I get really obnoxious.
Chris: Excellent, you can join me on the obnoxious side.

Ryan: My other campaign is to get people to realize that TNA, all things considered, is not that big of a wrestling promotion.
Chris: Amen.
Ryan: I'm being spurred on by reports that they sold EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY TICKETS to last night's show, which is "their Wrestlemania."
Chris: BUT that's 850 paid, better than if they stuffed 1000 in the Impact Zone.
Ryan: Not when you account for all of the extra transportation costs associated with getting their crew and equipment out to California.
Chris: They have that all-important nationwide TV deal.
Ryan: National TV is the only thing that distinguishes them from an indy group at this point.

Chris: People disagreed with my dislike of Zakk Wylde last night.
Ryan: Who's Zakk Wylde?
Chris: One of the five best guitarists alive.
Ryan: Oh, THAT Zakk Wylde. I thought for a second you were talking about some indy worker that I'd never heard of.
Chris: He "played" the national anthem at TNA Bound for Glory last night.
Ryan: ahhhh
Chris: Here's an example:



Chris: Your opinion sir?
Ryan: I was fine with it. I'm not blown away, but there have been worse musical guests opening wrestling shows. I'll take it over Kid Rock at Wrestlemania any day of the week.
Chris: Oh, his appearance is not the issue. Him being at the show was awesome for TNA. I just have a huge issue with people taking liberties with national anthems.
Ryan: I don't mind people putting their own twist on national anthems at all. A song, like any piece of artwork, is open to interpretation . . . and part of what a musician does when they play any standard is put forth their own interpretation of the song to the audience.
Chris: From my recap: "Oh my goodness, they're letting Zakk Wylde do the national anthem. I'm not American, but if I were I would be getting very pissed at this. A national anthem is not meant to be wailed on a guitar. And I say that even knowing about Jimi Hendrix, Brian May and everyone else. I won't go into a rant on national anthems, but suffice it to say I hated this."
Ryan: Maybe I'm just living in a world where everything that you can do to the national anthem seems pale after Roseanne Barr.
Chris: And even she was better than Carl Lewis . . . I dunno, I love Zakk Wylde and think he's awesome distilled, but I just don't like it when people mess with anthems.
Ryan: Eh, that's your prerogative, and it's fine. I'm just a person who thinks that there is no symbol of any nation so sacrosanct that it shouldn't be open for artistic or other expressive interpretation.
Chris: But then again, in the US isn't illegal to cut up a flag to wear as a dress, for example? Isn't that expressive interpretation?
Ryan: It's not really illegal. There is a portion of the United States Code sets forth "rules" for proper care and display of the flag, but there are no penalities associated with not following them and the Supreme Court has made it clear that enforcing them would violate the First Amendment. It's more an official statement of etiquette than it is a law.
Chris: However, it would not go down well with most people, I imagine.
Ryan: It probably would not. It wouldn't bother me.
I don't see it as any worse than Wal-Mart selling hundreds of thousands of articles of clothing with the image of the flag screenprinted on to them.
Chris: I dare say that many of the same people who are drooling over last night's performance would throw a shit fit if someone painted a US flag with crooked stripes and the stars in black on a white field in the bottom center.
Ryan: I think that a lot of that depends on the intent. If people perceived Wylde as being intentionally disrespectful with the way that he played the anthem, the reaction would be different. The same would probably be true of a stylized version of the flag as you described.
Chris: Possibly. On the bright side, it was a great PPV last night.
Ryan: Good to hear. I've not watched it.
Chris: It's worth a look.
Ryan: We'll see. I don't particularly care to spend money on the company's product and I'm not into getting the shows illegally, so I'll probably never see it unless a cheap/free DVD lands in my lap.
Chris: Dear TNA: SEND THIS MAN FREE STUFF.
Ryan: Dear TNA: Please don't. Send it to somebody who has more free time to actually spend watching it. I've got way too much Into the Indies material lined up in my queue right now to bother with TNA. Bound for Glory must take a backseat to HUSTLE Jihad.
Chris: Bahahahaha.

Chris: I just got the greatest Twitter Direct Message ever.
Ryan: Oh?
Chris: Is it tru that shane o mac bout tna?
Ryan: ha.
Chris: That's copy-pasted.
Ryan: "No. He bought the name ECW from WWE and is going to hire Paul Heyman back and restart the REAL ECW."
Chris: Greatness.
Ryan: "Shane to TNA" speculation is just another example of a group of people failing ot understand just how small this company is.

Chris: So . . . Jannetty is booked for the Raw show tonight.
Ryan: By god, you read a spoiler. I can't believe it.
Chris: I was afraid it would be RVD.
Ryan: How does RVD fit into the Morrison-Miz storyline?
Chris: That wasn't the teaser on the site, though. All it said was that a "former IC champ" was on the show.
Ryan: Ah, I read it elsewhere and missed our teaser. Besides, with RVD they probably would have billed him as a former WWE Champion.
Chris: Probably.
Ryan: Though really billing Jannetty as a former IC Champ is weird given that nobody really remembers him as an IC Champ . . . even if he did technically hold the belt.
Chris: I dunno . . . I remember he held it.
Ryan: I remember he held it too, but if I see the phrase "Former IC Champion," he's way down there on the list of guys that I think of.
Chris: Yeah, that's true. The first name in my head was RVD.
Ryan: It should be an interesting match, though.
Chris: Like with Shelton, it depends which Jannetty shows up.
Ryan: Jannetty looked pretty damn good against La Resistance when they brought him back for that match a few years ago, and Miz is worlds better now than Rene Dupree was at the time.
Chris: You just said something nice about Miz. The end is nigh!
Ryan: That's not entirely fair. I was really big into the Miz during his run with Cena . . . he was doing great promos (yes, promos) at the time. I've never thought of him as being anything better than average in the ring, though.
Chris: He's getting there.
Ryan: He's consistently progressed and has yet to show that he has plateaued.
Chris: That's more than you can say for some.
Ryan: Like, for example, Shelton, who if anything has regressed during his career.

The D-O-Double G is in the House . . . the Dogg House?

Chris: Raw?
Ryan: Raw . . . and Snoop Dogg.
Chris: Fo shizzle.
Ryan: Wow, I did even realize he was still releasing albums. Thank you for educating me, Justin Roberts.
Chris: Yeah, me too, and I even liked his first one.
Ryan: I'm honestly not that familiar with his work as a rapper. "Gin and Juice" is obviously a classic, but beyond that I don't know much.
Chris: "What's My Name" is also a classic.

Chris: So do you think that Snoop will book Orton-HBK? Ohhhhh, wait a second, I like his actual pick of HBK-Jericho better.
Ryan: We're less than five minutes in, and Snoop has joined the very short list of guest hosts who I would be perfectly fine with as permanent GMs.
Chris: Along with Bob Barker, Shaq and Freddie Prinze?
Ryan: Actually, I missed most of the Shaq show and didn't think that Prinze didn't do anything to stand out. He was quite vanilla. Barker I loved as a one-time novelty act, but I don't think that it would have legs as a permanent part of the show.

Enter D-Generation X

Ryan: Bravo for Triple H nothing that it's basically obligatory for white guys to crib Snoop's speech patterns when they're on TV together.
Chris: Now now, as a white guy you too must join in the fun.
Ryan: Katie Vick reference and NOBODY IN THE CROWD REACTS. Awesome. I mean . . . awesizzle?
Chris: No, the only people who will get that Vick reference are at home in a basement or writing reviews of this show.
Ryan: There's something particularly amusing about Triple H doing a spit-take given his entrance.
Chris: Although this promo on Team Smackdown is a total burial, DX is gonna get it back on Friday.
Ryan: I don't know that they'll get it back on Friday. The guy carrying the weight of the mic work for Team SD is Jericho, and there's a big difference between a heel saying his opponents are irrelevant and the two top babyfaces in the promotion saying that their opponents are irrelevant.
Chris: Ziggler will get some shots in.

Enter the Remainder of Team Raw

Ryan: I'd be surprised if he got anything close to this level. This is a decent rub for Kofi, though.
Chris: Kofi is due for a stellar push, because his mic work is now above awful.
Ryan: Now that he's being billed as a Ghanaian, maybe they'll let him drop the fake accent. That might help.
Chris: Okay, with Henry and Show facing off, I am reminded that I actually want to see that feud.
Ryan: Holy crap, they actually have let Kofi drop the accent! He's no better on the mic, but they let him drop the accent!
Chris: HHH is about to mention that . . .
Ryan: . . . and HHH immediately calls him on it.
Chris: Yup, there it is.
Ryan: You'd think that they'd, you know, explain it.
Chris: And how would they do that? They'd have to come up with something stupid.

The Big Show, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, & Kofi Kingston vs. Montel Vontavious Porter, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Evan Bourne, Primo Colon, & Chris Masters

Ryan: Wow, who did MVP piss off to get stuck with this JOB Squad?
Chris: When he pins Swagger, you'll change that tune.
Ryan: Why would they do that and blow Swagger's undefeated streak three weeks in?
Chris: Will a tag loss count?
Ryan: I think a direct pinfall loss in a tag match would have to. It's another story if he's part of a team and the other guy gets pinned.
Chris: And if he's in the Bragging Rights match and it IS elimination, are they really going to have him standing at the end of it?
Ryan: If it were an elimination match, I have a feeling that they would have mentioned it by now.
Chris: A lot of people seem to be assuming the opposite
Ryan: I've not heard that myself, but you've probably got a better finger on the pulse of the people who read and write for this site than I do.

Ryan: Kofi and Chavo in the ring together . . . this is the kind of singles match that I'd like to see Kofi in on a regular basis.
Chris: I just want to see Kofi and Bourne.
Ryan: Kofi's got impressive highspots, but I question his basics. I think that Chavo could do a good job of imparting those to him, because, even though Chavo's not the most exciting wrestler in the world, the one thing that you can say for him is that he's got a great handle of the fundamentals of wrestling.
Chris: The best thing about Kofi is that his highspots are controlled and rarely flubbed *cough* Shelton *cough*

Ryan: Cody and Bourne are now in the ring together . . . it's like a "mirror match" from Mortal Kombat.
Chris: FINISH HIM!

Chris: Rhodes came off as a star there. He got the finish, looked impressive, and basically carried the match for his team.
Chris: Getting the finish, looking impressive and basically carrying the match for his team.
Ryan: He came off a lot better than Show and Henry during the course of the match itself, which surprises me.

Winners: The Big Show, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, & Kofi Kingston via Roll of the Dice (Swagger steals Rhodes' pin on Colon)
Ryan: If this were given fifteen to twenty minutes, it could have been an absolutely phenomenal free television match. However, it was about half that length, which resulted in it being decent, albeit nothing memorable. It was a good reminder that, even though they're not used in key roles, there are some incredibly talented wrestlers on the lower tier of WWE's cards, including Chavo, Primo, and Bourne. Combine a featured role for these rarely featured wrestlers with surprisingly good booking for Cody Rhodes, and this is a moderate thumbs up. **

Randy Orton confronts Ted DiBiase backstage and tells him he's laying down.

Chris: Orton and Batista look so much alike facially with the shaved heads.
Ryan: That's another thing that I've been thinking about recently in the wake of Lou Albano's death . . . in the 70's and 80's in the WWWF/WWF/WWE, it was all about everybody having a distinctive look and personality. Now it's like everybody rolls off the same assembly line.
Chris: Black tights with a graphic on the back, crew cut, chiseled look . . .
Ryan: It's odd in a way, because you would think that if WWE is attempting to make Raw in to more of a "variety show," they'd want more over the top characters instead of guys like Orton, DiBiase, Swagger, Miz, and Rhodes, all of whom basically have very minor variations on the same gimmick.
Chris: The thing is, the over the top characters have a very small niche until they get over, and they are HARD to get over. Look at the New Generation era and how spectacularly that flopped.
Ryan: We're talking about very different types of over the top characters. You're talking about TL Hopper. I'm talking about Superstar Graham.
Chris: Those are once in a lifetime guys, though.
Ryan: For "once in a lifetime guys" there sure were a lot of them during that era.
Chris: It wouldn't work now. Everyone would expect them to be gay, just like Johnny B. Badd.
Ryan: I'm not necessarily talking about Graham's specific schtick . . . just look at what Elijah Burke is doing in TNA for what I consider to be an updated version of the old Billy Graham gimmick.

Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase, Jr.

Chris: DiBiase is getting angry, says Lawler. You won't like him when he's angry. His face turn is . . . pending . . . pending . . . and it's complete.
Ryan: These are great facials by DiBiase tonight.
Chris: And he is INSTANTLY over.
Ryan: Well, he's over for the time being. Whether he stays over depends on the follow-up.
Chris: Orton's facials are even better than DiBiase's. This is JUST like he did to Cody after the RKO to Dusty.
Ryan: Okay, that was a really great finish. I like the fact that Orton, if he wants to, can see it as Ted following orders. Yet, on the other hand, Ted has plausible deniability . . . he was RKO'ed, so he can legitimately argue that he didn't lay down.
Chris: Plus now WWE knows that the crowd will buy Ted as a face, and it proves a point we have both made: to make a mega-face, you need a mega-heel.

Winner: Randy Orton via RKO
Ryan: This wasn't a straight match was much as it was an extended angle. There have been a handful of matches like this on Raw in recent weeks (including last week's Jericho vs. Big Show) and they have all been very entertaining and filled their purpose well. Orton vs. DiBiase here was no exception, as you can no doubt tell from the comments that Chris and I made above. This is exactly what was needed to further the story involving the two men that has been told for the last several months, with the slow burn towards Legacy falling apart being one of the more compelling angles in recent memory. N/R.

Tribute is Paid to Lou Albano

Ryan: Interesting choice for the video package on Captain Lou . . . it's not how I would have chosen to remember him, but it's about what I expected from WWE in terms of their memories of him.
Chris: I have very few memories of him, so I'm probably the wrong one to comment . . . but it seemed to be a good summary of his career to me.
Ryan: I don't have that many memories of him either, but based on everything that I've read/heard about him since he passed, he was legitimately a major part of the company's success in the Vince Sr. era. That package focused more on him being a glorified cartoon character in the 80's.
Chris: And a manager of the stars.
Ryan: Still, though, the main focus in terms of his pre-Hulkamania stuff was his streak of tag champs, which was really secondary to his contributions to the company in managing numerous major heel challengers to Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund.

Snoop Dogg Meets with the Raw Baggy Pants Players

Chris: SANTINOOOOOOO . . . as Charlie Brown!
Ryan: What a bizarre skit.
Chris: Wait . . . did they just . . . do a pot joke? Ohhhhh boy.
Ryan: "Good grief" says Santino. Meanwhile, I have no clue what the hell I just watched. Sometimes I find WWE's comedy hilarious, sometimes I find it ridiculously stupid. There was so much crammed in here I honestly cannot decide how I felt about the skit.
Chris: Hornswaggle and Chavo just seemed to be shoved in there to get them on air. All I know is that I suddenly want Tostitos.
Ryan: I think we've stumbled across a major American-Canadian cultural difference here. In the States, Tositos aren't really stoner fare. You need Cheetos or Doritos to ward off the munchies.
Chris: I have no clue what stoners eat. I have never even seen weed.
Ryan: I've never used any illegal drug, but I've definitely seen them and interacted with people under their influence. I've never been around for the actual imbibing, which surprises given some of the circles that I used to run in during college. Perhaps they thought I'd NARC on them.
Chris: We are SO getting roasted in the Comments section for this.
Ryan: I can see it now: "Look at Byers trying to make it sound like he's all cool for talking about drugs. To know anything about drugs he'd have to move out of his parents' house." And not to mention: "Lansdell's never even seen pot? He should move out of his parents' house."

Triple H vs. John Cena

Ryan: Here's another point about the opening segment that I didn't think about until just now: Triple H doing comedy sure hurt the idea that they were trying to push last week that this match with Cena is an epic. If it really were a "tough" match for either guy as Lawler just said, shouldn't HHH be more focused on, you know, preparing for it?
Chris: Wow, you just broke the brains of everyone reading. See, when THIS music plays, it's serious HHH. If he comes out to DX music it's comedy HHH.

Chris: "This could be a WrestleMania main event!" say the announcers. Ummm . . . yeah. Maybe because it has been?
Ryan: I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that yet. It's an easy way to help give the match the impact that they want it to have.

Chris: I made this point in my Cena column, but part of the reason that Cena's offense feels so stale is that he only ever uses it for three minutes of a match. He spends the rest getting beaten up.
Ryan: Which is an interesting way to condition your fans. Ideally, you'd like them to think that a match can end at any time.
Chris: I don't think most fans have felt that way since the days of Hogan.
Ryan: But, with Cena . . . and with most WWE wrestlers, actually, you know you're not going to see a finish unless their big moves all hit.
Chris: Except during Attitude, and that was only because you never knew when the run-in would happen . . . but if you look at Cena's offense at ONS 06 against RVD, it's much more varied. He even caused that hostile crowd to change their chants. He shut them up.
Ryan: Which helps to prove that Cena is a lot better wrestler than a lot of people would give him credit for. He was working for a different audience, so he adopted a different style. He's wrestling his standard match now because his standard match is what the live crowd wants to see.
Chris: As I like to say, it's the difference between "can't wrestle" and "doesn't wrestle."

Ryan: You know, this will probably end in a fuck finish, but this is a match that Triple H could afford to lose clean, and it's a match that would really help Cena.
Chris: I agree HHH can afford to lose, but how does it help Cena?
Ryan: Well, I suppose I shouldn't say it would help Cena as much as I should say that it will help the PPV. It makes him look like he's on a hot streak headed into what has been pushed as the final match of the Orton feud.
Chris: Well, it certainly couldn't hurt, but if that feud still needs help at this point it probably can't be helped.
Ryan: It needs a lot of help, but at least putting Cena over HHH would send the message that the babyface is getting the title at the end of the Orton feud, which at least in theory is what people are supposed to be buying pay per views to see.

Chris: I have to say that this match is just not doing it for me.
Ryan: Really? I'm having a good time with it.
Chris: I thought you'd be harder on it than me. I feel like it's okay for TV but not the major match that it was built to be.
Ryan: It's nothing groundbreaking, but it started with some basic mat wrestling and since then we've gotten nearfalls at an increasing pace . . . each one has built on the other. Though I do have to say it was a bit odd to have Cena get his foot on the ropes for Pedigree one and then kick out of Pedigree two. Calling this a classic like Lawler just did is a stretch, but it's fine for a TV singles match.
Chris: It's growing on me with the near falls.

Ryan: . . .
Ryan: WHAT was that result?
Chris: Ummm . . . does that rather suggest Cena is winning on Sunday and NOT going to SD?
Ryan: I never really thought that he was going to SD to begin with, but that pretty well seals it, unless WWE's mentality is that they want to swerve people by getting them to think that Cena is putting over HHH "on his way out." Or they could feel that Cena is so indestructible that they had to have him lose to put over the possibility that he could lose on Sunday, giving the loser leaves stip more teeth.
Chris: I have given up second-guessing the booking, man.
Ryan: Yeah, they're totally playing this up like it's a farewell match for Cena, which means that they're probably looking for the "swerve" of Cena winning on the PPV.
Chris: Which pretty much nerfs Orton, no?
Ryan: Nerfs?
Chris: Lessens, cuts the power of.
Ryan: He and Cena have traded so many wins that I don't think another loss to the guy will hurt Orton any. Plus, based on his match tonight, Orton is going to be out of the title hunt for a little bit so that he can do a little more work in this DiBiase program.
Chris: Orton has what, one clean win over Cena? It just came three weeks ago. Losing to Cena now in an iron man will really cheapen that one win.
Ryan: I don't think that anybody is sitting there and counting clean wins. Orton and Cena have traded the titles back and forth in an extended feud, so it feels like they're on the same level. That's all that really matters.

Winner: Triple H via Third Pedigree
Ryan: Putting aside all conversation about the company's booking, I thought that this was a fairly entertaining television singles bout. Was it the Wrestlemania-worthy bout that the announcers were attempting to hype it up as being? Absolutely not. If that was the goal, everybody involved sorely missed the mark. However, for a television main event, it was everything that it needed to be and then some. Yes, the offense presented was basic, but it was the timing of the wrestlers and the slow build to the big finish that made the bout entertaining. This was definitive proof of the fact that you don't need seven hundred flippy-dos and head-drops to keep a crowd in your pocket. All you need is established characters and two guys who know how to time their comebacks and kickouts. ***

SD Rewind to the Dirt Sheet

Chris: Morrison was actually FUNNY in that segment, like he used to be when these guys were a team.
Ryan: I've never thought Morrison was funny at any point in his career . . . but to each his own. I think he's a weak promo that has been vastly overrated in certain corners of the internet.
Chris: He has been a weak promo, yes. He's getting better though.

Mike the Miz vs. Marty Jannetty

Chris: THROWBACK ROCKERS MUSIC!!!!
Ryan: Yikes . . . Marty is not in the shape that he was the last time they brought him back. He's a bit flabbier.
Chris: And the crowd has NO CLUE who he is.
Ryan: Nope.

Ryan: Going back to our "assembly line" conversation earlier, I miss Miz's shorts and t-shirt.
Chris: Morrison made that observation on SD.
Ryan: GREAT flip bump by Marty off of the clothesline.
Chris: So...and I'm sorry but I have to ask...has Jannetty re-signed, or is this a one-shot deal?
Ryan: Seems to be a one-shot from everything I've read, though he got a deal off of his last one-shot. They never used him again, but he was under contract for a spell.
Chris: He got fired within two weeks I thought.
Ryan: I don't recall the timeframe, but it wasn't long.

Chris: Jannetty didn't look horrible here.
Ryan: Well, his physique has gone downhill, but, other than that, Marty didn't look out of place at all on WWE TV in 2009.

Winner: Mike the Miz via the Stroke
Ryan: This match was basically a squash in which the guy doing the j-o-b got just a bit more offense than your standard enhancement talent. Jannetty was the perfect guy to use in such a role, as he worked his butt off to make Miz like a million bucks, bumping harder than anybody on the current roster would for his offense (with the possible exception of Evan Bourne). Plus I loved the finishing sequence, which saw Miz reverse a Rocker Dropper attempt into a suplex in which he draped Marty gut-first over the top rope. That set up Jannetty staggering directly in to the Stroke to end the match. I'm a huge mark for offensive moves being strung together into combinations that make sense, and the finish here was a perfect example of once such combo. **

Commercial Break Banter

Chris: Snoop Dogg has been virtually invisible so far.
Ryan: Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. This is the Raw go-home for their PPV, after all.
Chris: Absolutely. They have a big concept to build and they're not doing a horrible job with it.
Ryan: Besides, even when we had normal GMs and not the guest hosts, I was getting sick of the amount of time that the regular GMs ate up. I'm really begging for a return to the Jack Tunney style figurehead who only appeared once every few months for major announcements.
Chris: Who would you have in that role though?
Ryan: They've got a lot of guys under contract who could do it. Michael Hayes would be great.
Chris: I'd prefer DiBiase.
Ryan: He works too.

Jillian Hall vs. Melina Perez (c) for the WWE Divas' Title

Ryan: In following up on last week's epically bad performance, Melina botches CLIMBING THE STAIRS tonight.

Winner: Melina Perez via Hog Log
Ryan: Abso-freakin'-lutely nothing happened here aside from a couple of moves. At least they didn't horribly mar the finish this time around, which drags it up from negative stars to an even DUD.

Chavo attacks Hornswoggle, Snoop Dogg saves.

Chris: So now Chavo is back to the Hornswaggle feud?
Ryan: Apparently. This segment was a perfect example of why they've regularly got Chavo working with Hornswoggle and the guest hosts. Those two spots with Snoop were literally Chavo wrestling himself. Snoop stood there and stuck out a part of his body, and Chavo did all of the work, making both of the spots look perfectly acceptable in the process.
Chris: Chavo is getting paid many thousands to look incompetent, when the really knowledgeable people know that he is by far more competent than 90% of the roster
Ryan: That's the perfect way to put it.
Chris: However, I will pay money to never again see Hornswaggle and Snoop dancing for three minutes.
Ryan: Eh. It's not the best use of their TV time, but it's also not the dumbest thing that they have ever done with a celebrity.
Chris: Oh hell no.

Hype Video: John Cena vs. Randy Orton

Ryan: Wow, they're bringing back the father punting. That's reaching back into what is, by WWE standards, ancient history.
Chris: Hey, Orton had hair!
Ryan: If they had played up this history between the two from the beginning of the feud as opposed to just now busting it out less than a week before the blowoff match, this actually could have come off as the epic feud that they want to bill it as.
Chris: I wonder if they decided to go this direction when they realized nobody was buying it as a fresh feud.
Ryan: If I had to put money behind a theory, I'd guess that the people who make the video packages are completely different than the people who handle the booking, resulting in two different narratives.
Chris: I wouldn't argue. Huge corporations don't let people have two jobs unless they're Vince McMahon.

Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels

Chris: Okay, this REALLY annoys me. Do they think we are stupid? There are five minutes plus overrun left in the show, we go to commercial, and we have a main event to go . . . is ANYONE expecting this to actually finish in anything but a massive run-in?
Ryan: The alternative is to have Michaels and Jericho do a good match for a significant period of time which then gets ruined by the massive run-in. I find what they're actually doing less offensive.
Chris: I just hate how they start it so late in the show when no other outcome is even possible.

Next week's hosts are announced.

Chris: Wow . . . NASCAR plus wrestling . . . fill that stereotype!
Ryan: I'll be sure to black out a few of my teeth before watching next week's show.

Back to the "match."

Chris: Jericho has seemingly outsmarted Raw here.
Ryan: Interesting to see that they're not doing any dissension between the Team Smackdown members even though Crime Time are, in theory, faces.
Chris: Interesting to see Rhodes come out with Team Raw too.

Ryan: VICKIE IS BACK ON RAW~!
Chris: HEAT! FEEL THE HEAT!

A fourteen man brawl breaks out.

Ryan: Well, it was the predictable finish, but I frankly don't know if there are many other ways that you could have booked that one.
Chris: I would have done the five-on-five there.
Ryan: The five-on-five culminating with the Raw-SD brawl or the five-on-five exactly as we saw it lower on the card?
Chris: The former. Have Swagger get the pin, then have Jericho come out and laugh at them for struggling to beat "pathetic midcarders" . . . THEN bring out the troops.
Ryan: Also perfectly fine . . . but, even though I am generally not a fan of bait and switch, I think they needed something like HBK vs. Jericho announced for the top of the show to keep people's interest. Team Raw Upper Midcard vs. Team Raw Lower Midcard isn't really a main event match, even for free TV. (As you might be able to tell from what I've chosen to call the two teams.)
Chris: With Big Show and Henry in it? It passes muster.
Ryan: Big Show and Henry are one thing. It's more the opposing team that's problematic for making the match feel like a real main event.
Chris: Still, I'm glad they didn't try and make it a match.

To Sum It All Up

Ryan: My thoughts on this show are a lot like my thoughts on the comedy skit involving Snoop Dogg, Santino, Jillian, Chavo, and Hornswoggle. It was all over the place to the point that I have no clue what to think of it as a whole. On one hand, the slow build to the Ted DiBiase Jr./Randy Orton blow-up was handled beautifully this week to the point that I am genuinely interested in seeing what they do on the show's next episode. However, that can be seen as a negative as well given that the company is headed into a pay per view event in which Orton/DiBiase interaction is not a guaranteed part of any match. When it comes to the other half of the PPV main event, Triple H vs. John Cena was an odd bout in that it built to the Orton/Cena match albeit not directly. It was clear that the company was attempting to get its fans to make assumptions about what would or would not be happening for the finish of the Iron Man match, but there was still nothing done that directly furthered any heat between Orton and Cena. It's an interesting form of booking in which, instead of heavily pushing the personal issue between the wrestlers, WWE is seemingly attempting to create numerous scenarios in fans' minds regarding what may happen in the match's finish without coming out and saying that anything specific will happen. It's not a style of booking that we have seen too often throughout history, so we can't really speculate regarding how well it will work. I suppose we'll see once the numbers for Bragging Rights roll in . . .

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Ciao!