First Batch of Monday Night Raw WZ Reader Feedback

by Nick Paglino
June 02, 2009

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The following Raw thoughts have been sent in by WrestleZone readers! If you would like to send in your thoughts, or any kind of feedback at all, please feel free to email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !

The following is from Robert

I thought Monday Night Raw was a good show overall. I was so excited when Kofi Kingston won the United States Championship. I was also pleasantly surprised and happy that MVP congratulated Kofi and didn't beat his brains in after he lost the match, which some other superstars might have done. The one thing I have to question is why did the steel cage stay in place after Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler exited? Anmd for pete's sake WWE, please stop letting Randy Orton beat the tar out of all the top stars on Raw. Lately, every time anyone challenges Orton, whether it be in a match or a fight, as tonight with Ric Flair, He breaks a bone(Shane McMahon), punts them in the head(Triple H, HBK); yet when a superstar makes a mistake in the ring against Orton(the recently released Mr. Kennedy), he gets a pink slip for his trouble. I just wish they could feature Orton without injuring all the superstars I grew up watching and still love to watch.

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The following is from Kevin

RAW sucked, it was lame, not even the beatdown Ric Flair got was anyhow entertaining. WWE-PG just ruins everything and seeing only main eventers on RAW all the time i find it really lame to watch. Also Carlito & Primo, and The Brian Kendrick should of stayed on SmackDown!. So RAW bored the hell out of me and i'd rather watch SmackDown! because theres more wrestling and better storylines. ECW because theres more wrestling, and it's great watching rising stars of today for example " THE HART DYNASTY "

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The following is from John

Great work on the site everyone. You guys work hard to provide us with all the insider information that you can, and your reviews and editorials are well-written and effective in providing different insights into the industry that we all love. Keep up the good work. On to the Raw review:

I liked the opening segment. Short and sweet. I liked Rhodes brief work on the stick. He seemed to be completly convinced of his wrestling pedigree, even though we all know he doesn't stand a chance against Batista. I still don't like the idea of Flair feuding with Orton. To me, Flair coming on Raw to challenge Orton to these fights is equivalent to him tarnishing his legacy. WWE seems to be turning Flair into a novelty or a sideshow, and Flair looks guilty of the exact thing that Jericho warned him about in his program with the various WWE Legends earlier this year. Flair does not even have a solid program on the show, he is simply there to create more hatred between Batista and Orton. Have Orton punt Flair in the head tonight, add extra emotion to the match between Orton and Batista on Sunday, and send Flair back to retirement where he belongs.

The cage match was exactly what I expected. Couldn't they have let Rhodes execute one offensive move? Maybe even a punch? WWE is shooting themselves in the foot by making up-and-comers such as Rhodes and Dibiase become jobbers for older guys like Batista. Obviously Rhodes can't go over here, but let him land a couple punches, a low blow, something. At least we were treated to a wrestling match in the first half hour of the show, even if it was a squash match.

Chavo as Cena's partner? It was easy to see that one coming. Oh well, at least it wasn't a cardboard cutout of Rocky.

Typical Divas match. Beth and Mickie are both pretty solid in the ring. Maryse plays her heel role extremely well. Kelly Kelly actually used a different offensive move besides that backflip, spinning head scissor takedown, cartwheel elbow, and I would say etc, but that's pretty much her entire moveset. Either way, she is still amazingly beautiful.

The tag team match was pretty good. Carlito and Primo are both solid workers. Regal is a great bully of a heel, and Hardy is succeeding at coming off as a whiny punk that craves, but doesn't deserve, the spotlight, even if he can't remember that his hand is broken. WWE's tag team division is a joke, but this match was good.

Whenever Batista tells Flair that he doesn't have to fight, I still get the feeling of a middle-aged guy telling his decrepit grampa that "You don't have to do this!" Then gramps dramatically replies, "Yeah, I do."

I didn't get the backstage segment with Regal, Hardy, and Vickie. Didn't Matt just whack Regal with the cast and cost them the match? Why would Regal want to work with him again? The Matt whispers to Vickie, "we'll do a run-in, beat up Santino, and you slop him!" Pretty predictable.

Cena/Chavo vs Big Show/Miz was a decent match. The Miz is a good wrestler and is good at drawing heat, but he's just
such a douchebag! It is funny to see him push Big Show's buttons though. That punch that show gave him in the back of the head looked good. Cena giving Chavo the FU (yeah, I still call it that) after the match didn't make a ton of sense. Didn't he just (kinda) win the match for them? I guess he had to be out of the way for the Big Show/Cena confrontation. Why did Cena sit up and sell that punch after? Isn't that supposed to be a knockout blow? This was a decent match, and it served its purpose by setting up the submission match between Show and Cena.

The backstage segment and match between Kofi and MVP were both good. I liked the way that they both made it look like they really wanted to win the title without compromising their face status. The match was very good, even though MVP looks like he botched a couple of moves here and there (he dead weighted Kofi on that standing side headlock takedown). I liked that Kofi went over, because he is talented and deserves a mid-card push right now, and MVP should be a main eventer because he has quickly become an extremely popular face. Great match.

Good backstage segment between Orton and Dibiase. I like how Dibiase took Orton down a peg with that last line. Very good
backstage segment.

The Santino/Vickie segment was very good. Very funny, which is nothing less than what I have come to expect from Santino. He really heaved all that slop around, and the look on Regal's face with the slop dripping down was priceless! It was weird how Vickie poured the slop directly on Santino's balls though.

The fight segment between Orton and Flair was decent. I just can't see a 60 something year old man having a shot against an athlete like Orton though. Who started bleeding when? That was kind of weird. The figure four on the announcer's table was pretty anti-climactic. I was hoping Flair would give him a piledriver or something. When Flair put it on, Orton started to screaming, and perfectly timed, so did some girl in the audience. Me and my buddy were rewinding it and laughing our asses off because it looked like Orton was screaming like a girl. ARRRGGGHHH, I waited so long to see Orton punt Flair's old ass in the head and he barely grazed him! Oh well, at least Flair won't be on tv for a while now (at least I hope).

This was a good Raw, a lot better than it has been the past few weeks, even though that's not saying much. A wrestling show with actual wrestling matches, what a concept! The in-ring work was good, the backstage segments and in-ring promos were good, and I think WWE did a good job of setting up the PPV this Sunday.

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The following is from Collin "The Shower Head"

Raw was not only lackluster, it was non-progressive. I am going to be alittle harsh about this review, but it is for WWE's own good.
  Okay, we open the show with Randy Orton (Reads everything the same) making his mandatory long speech about how the fans are stupid and he is the best.

I GOT IT! I don't mind a speech once in a blue moon, but dammit WWE has too many monotonious segments as it is (Hence, Santina). Do you want to really suprise me? I think showing me Randy Orton can actually get in a feud without kicking somebody in the HEAD! How about wrestling somebody because they think your new tatoos look really faded already? Not a good one, but ORIGINAL!

Next, Carlito and Primo A.K.A. Bland man with a fro and Bland man with a puerto rican porno moustache. WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS ACCOMPLISHING! They fight random nobodies every week, they are personality-less corpses that fill in the card. I was honestly rooting for the referee to low blow Carlito and steal a victory in a self pin one man owns 4 tag-team belts.... HONESTLY! A gravy soaked wash rag on a broom stick paired up with a wall mounted talking sea bass would be a better tag team. At least the bass has better mic skills and draws all the cats to view the show and the dogs would love that rag.

Divas, well they can't wrestle. I don't need Tom Brokaw for that one. They do look good. So, Why can't WWE keep replenishing women? Same divas for the last couple of years. Not too much bad to write about the divas... I knew there awful. Just keep shaking there things and it's good for me.

Lastly, and MOSTLY get rid of the Santino-Santina stuff. Wow, are they trying to make Santino look gay? Everytime someone wants to fight Santina, Santino is happily answers OKAY! Look WWE, there are enough shows on TV for the homosexuals. I am SURELY not one of them.  I know that's an untapped viewer potential spot for ratings. BUT!! I REMEMBER WHEN RAW'S MOTTO WAS "RAW IS WAR"! Now we can call it "Raw is for Crossdressers".

The grade I give WWE since January is a F. The F stands for many different meanings, Forgetful,Flat,Full of nothing, but with this Santino's segment, the F stands for something else. If that's who your geering your show to.... I will stop watching.

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The following is from Joseph

I have to say, without a doubt that Monday Night RAW is barely watchable anymore. I'm actually lamenting the fact that I know longer have DVR capabilities with my cable now as I used to be able to just fast-forward through the boring aspects of the show.
 
I hate Randy Orton. Not as in "Oh, I hate that Randy Orton. He's such a dastardly villain." I mean I can't watch him. Period. I would like to somehow convince the fans of the WWE to vote with their feet. When Orton come on, change the channel. At a live event when Orton is introduced, go to concessions. Don't bother booing the guy because you think he really sucks as Vince will take it as a sign that Orton is doing well as a heel. Randy Orton is not good at being a wrestler or a bad guy. The whole "life-threatening" kick to the head looks fake. You think that the WWE could pay a stunt man or stage combatant to come in and teach Orton how to kick somebody in the head and make it look real. Tonight was no exception. The "kick" to Flair's head was the worst one yet.
 
Randy Orton is pathetic. Don't give the guy a microphone as his mike skills are bland as its all yelling and speaking very slowly. Orton is acting a "state', which comes across as fake. He comes out slowly, hunched over. It takes him forever to get to the ring. He has this phoney glare about him that's supposed to be menacing, but isn't. I think its a complete disaster for McMahon to pin his hopes for the future of the WWE on Orton. Randy Orton is not half the wrestler or star his father was. I just wish Orton would go away.
 
On the whole, they don't have any compelling storylines. Santino Morella's antics continue to be mildly amusing. MVP is helping to bring a little gusto to the proceedings. The Big Show needs to build his credibility up again, which is a lost cause. Ever since he had his salad tossed by Vince McMahon I don't think anyone has taken Show as a serious threat anymore. Besides, didn't Cena already beat him at Wrestemania? We're treading through old territory here.
 
The opening Cage match was a good kick-start but wound up anti-climactic. I tire of Vicki Guerrero also. She and Chavo are even more unconvincing than Orton. Ric Flair's angle was truly the only highlight. It's sad when the WWE has to turn to there Hall of Famers to boost ratings.
 
The bottom line- Orton is ruining the show. They need more attitude. I think its unfortunate that Mr. Kennedy didn't work out as he is a character they need right now and need badly. I don't think I'll be tunning in next week.

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The following is from my dog Nick, aka NikVoodoo

Whoa...wait.....

Was....was that actually a decent Raw? Did the WWE actually do a go home Raw right?
 
I hear the coming of the Apocalypse....
 
Batista and Cody was the basically pointless squash as was to be expected. The Divas were tolerable tonight. Carlito/Primo & Matt/Regal was decent.  The midway main event was pretty good too. It told a good story, and the Miz is really coming into his own. Pulling some good heat, and he made himself look like he could possibly be a viable opponent for Cena...so long as Big Show beats the snot out of him first. Can't wait to see them go one on one and see if the Miz can hold his own without the help. Should be interesting. Slow slow sloooooooow start to Kofi/MVP but from the point they started trading pin attempts it got really interesting. Though I did expect that Kofi would win to free up MVP for the WWE title scene, it was great to see they pulled it out of no where through some great wrestling. Vickie and Santino segment was ok, and pretty damn amusing until Vickie tried to laugh like a psycho...umm....no. Please don't ever do that again. It was scary, but for all the wrong reasons. Vickie just needs to never laugh...like....ever again. That made my soul bleed and I believe Angel's died. The Street Fight (while certainly serving a purpose to end the Flair angle) went on too long. The nice thing about it, is Flair really didn't take control without doing something drastic to take it. The sneak attack from behind, a few shots here and there but mostly it was Orton in control. Flair's mule on the stage kick down to the Legacy run in worked for me. 
 
Total Logic Fails
Regal and Hardy can't work together well enough in the ring to perform the most remedial of tandem tag team moves, yet they are able to convince Vickie they have a plan (that they thought up together mind you) to take out Santino? 

Did Dave Batista miss the part where the big fence thing in front of him had no top on it  and if he had continued to climb over the top of the cage, he would have Orton trapped inside with no where to go because Cody locked the door? OOH! I know! Kill two birds with one stone, instead of Batista standing there looking like a short bus rider, have Legacy look legit, attack him, and hold him and make him watch Orton destroy Flair in the ring. Then have Batista chase Legacy off, only to have it be too late. Elevates Legacy, and doesn't make Dave look like a douche. 
 
And since the truck didn't cut away fast enough from the punt that barely hit Flair, does that mean his recovery will take a shorter amount of time than HHH's because he barely got hit?
 
How tall is the Great Khali? How tall is the Big Show? Judgement Day 07 wasn't all that long ago.....are we really expected to forget that Cena is capable of putting the STFU on someone that size? Though I will say for those who forgot he can do that, when he puts it on Show on Sunday and makes him tap, those folks will go crAzy (yes...with a capital A)

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The following is from Sabin27
 
Raw started off kinda cool with Legacy in the cage and the lights down.  Orton flipping the coin to see whether Cody or Ted would be destroyed by Batista was kind of dumb.  Why  not just murder both in a handicap match?  Question.  If Flair is supposed to be retired, why do they let him in the building to challenge the champ to a parking lot brawl 6 days before the PPV?  Question.  Can Maryse's shorts get any shorter?  And can you tell me when?  I'd like to set my TiVo.  Cena and Chavo vs Show and Miz?  Why not just have Chavo jump on Miz's back, and Miz jump on Show's back, and have Cena F.U., I mean Attitude Adjust(ment)? all three?  And is it just me, or will Cena somehow be able to put Show in the S.T.F.U.?  My friend said he got Kali in it, so why not Show?  Regal and Matt Hardy make for an interesting tag team, both going nowhere, and now in a worthless tag team division.  They should have sent Regal over to Smackdown with Punk and had them continue their feud, or at least the good matches those two put on a while back.  Speaking of worthless, we got a preview of Santina vs Vicki, with Santino (Santina's brother for those of you who don't know) vs Vicki with two buckets of slop at ringside.  The Slop is Over!!!!!!!!!!!!  I almost forgot the Kofi vs MVP for the prescious U.S. title match.  Finally, a real superplex.  And those rolling near falls don't work with someone (MVP) who can't roll.  The finish saw Kofi get the win, so now MVP can move onto the winner of Orton and Batista hopefully (NOT!)  Orton vs Flair in a parking lot brawl.  I thought Legacy would run in long before they did, same with Dave.  If you believe the Flair-Batista dynamic, with Flair being Dave's mentor, it sets up Extreme Rules quite nicely.  Orton looked nuts when he kicked Flair (not Randy's best) and Dave looked genuinely pissed.  All in all, prettty much a bookend RAW, with Dave and the Divas at the begining, and Orton and Flair at the end.  3.5 stars out of 5.  PS.  For those of you in the Marysville, Wa area this Thursday from 1-4pm, come see TNA's own Angelina Love signing at Who's On First Sports cards before the TNA house show in Kent, Wa.  I have to work, but hopefully I'll be there before she is gone.