This whole HBK/JBL storyline is just plain stupid. Anyone with any brains who watched the four-way battle knew how it was going to end before it even started. With HBK’s age and little time left in wrestling, couldn’t they gave this entertainer a better farewell storyline? A JBL/John Cena battle for the title doesn’t appear to have much appeal. Any of the other three would have been better choices.
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I have to admit first and foremost that I am not writing this to critique each and every aspect of RAW. My review is more of a blanket review as far as what I see from RAW. My wife and I actually attend the event Monday live and in person. We only live about an hour from Manchester. Although I will always be a wrestling fan, and enjoy seeing it regardless, I think I echo many others when i say that RAW has become a stale product. Excluding the recent HBK/Jericho storyline, I don’t think the WWE gives us anything to look forward to. Its definitely not like it used to be. There is no suspense, no “sitting on the edge of your seat” to see what will happen next. Except for the appearances by John Cena, i would say that the crowd was mostly dead last night. The 10 man tag was a good idea, but what the hell did it have to do with anything? I always subscribed to the theory that the matches helped to evolve the storylines, but evidently the WWE doesn’t see it that way. There used to be a time when you could wonder what the nWo was going to do next, or what sort of perverted thing DX would do this week, or how McMahon would get f*cked over by Austin, or you wondered week to week who the Higher Power was going to be(ok, so they messed that up, too), but in today’s wrestling world, the suspense is gone. I still am a huge WWE fan, and won’t ever stop watching, but i think they have a long way to go before they again put together a consistent product that people will want to tune in to see.
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Ok! I don’t see what everyone is so upset about! Personally, I felt Raw was great.One of the better Raw’s I’ve seen in a long time, a great way to end 2008. JBL finally back on top as #1 contender for John Cena’s title. John Cena should not be champion and lots of people are tired of WWE making him seem high and mighty. I look forward to the Royal Rumble seeing JBL win back his title and walk into WrestleMania as champion. I was at last year’s Royal Rumble and saw JBL face Chris Jericho, and to think this year he is now challenging for the title. What an improvement for JBL! The whole Shawn Michael’s angle is stupid, but hey it got JBL #1 contender spot.
I was also very happy to see Melina get the #1 contender spot! She has come back from injury and has been a pistol since! She will be the one to stop the Glamazon and will walk out of the Royal Rumble as new Women’s Champion again. Speaking of the Divas, I for one was also surprised to see that Kelly Kelly was getting it on with Randy Orton. I think they would actually make a cute “on air” romance if I do say so myself. And what has been up with Randy Orton and his “Dynasty”? I think that cause Manu lost kicking him out would not be a smart move for Randy and his Dynasty. Manu is fresh and new…. one to look out for if he is kicked out!
I would have also liked to see CM Punk get his title shot at William Regal and have had all 4 titles in one year. I’m not sure if that would be a record, but it would certainly be a shocking event. Punk has been on fire this year!! I’m not the biggest CM Punk fan, but this year he has take WWE and shook it better than anybody that I’ve seen in quite a few years! I’m looking forward to see what he can do to WWE in 2009!
If I could make a little prediction here, expect to see lots of title changes at the Royal Rumble…. at least that’s how it is looking for the Raw side of things right now. However, on the Smackdown side, I don’t see Jeff Hardy holding on to the WWE title for very long!!!
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Well Raw was very good …. I don’t know why people don’t appreciate JBL … His wrestling skills are pretty good
he can handle the mic well…. his gimmick is great clothesline is one of the best ever … only down side is his man boobs …he is also a great heel which is why every one hates him… His reign on smackdown as wwe champ was one of the best ever . But I feel this angle is going very well . And the fatal four way was amazing. HBK pinning Orton and Jericho like that tells me for some reason he will be main-eventing WMXXV …. and his opponent is a mystery but I wont be shocked to see JBL beat Cena at the Rumble…
The 10 man tag was great lots of action …. nice moment with Cena performing the 5 knuckle shuffle and Kofi hitting the weird jumping Jamaican ‘buk buk buk’ leg drop …. Crime time makes no sense … they dont make you feel like they have a personality. Poor Kane has been damned to loose… and he is always put in the most preposterous story lines ever for him … and to top it all he looses to John Cena like hes a ‘Tommy Dreamer ‘
Legacy is going to do great things in the future. But it was confusing why Manu (Umagarlito) lost. And even Randy Orton lost .. he should be thrown out of the legacy too ….
Its good to see Regal finally showing whether he is a heel or a face and it adds to his character. Frankly regal is a great wrestler and highly underrated …. he can easily be world champion as a mean English man.
Poor Matt hardy has to work all three shows this week… and that also as the EcW Champion … which i have finally concluded is something between the World title/WWe and Intercontinental/US title.. WWe really need to be clear on whether its a world championship or not .
Only Down side was Sim snuka vs Haas …. Haas’s impersonator gimmick is going stale …. thought sim snuka is impressive … this match had no point other than to put Sim over … (Sim lost to haas a few weeks back in a lame match )
Overall this weeks raw was a 4.8/5
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i watched bits and pieces of RAW last night, and i have to say that they have consistently put on a lackluster show for the last few YEARS.
there hasnt been one ounce of excitement on that show for a long long time…. i am tired of seeing john cena at all, nevermind as CHAMPION.
randy orton is GOOD as a singles wrestler, but as “the guiding light” of a stable he cant pull it off.
manu and sim snuka are laughable, and cody rhodes has the personality of a wet cardboard box… tho he is more interesting to watch than CM Punk… he musta paid osmeone in vinces office to get his hands on that world title
the womens battle royal was alright, but i really think that in ANY type of battle royal..womens or otherwise.. you SHOULD have to go OVER the top rope and not BETWEEN the second and top ropes to be eliminated (like kelly kelly was). did ANYONE not think that melina was going to win that battle royal anyway? and maybe its just ME but both jillian hall and katie lea are being SERIOUSLY overlooked!
charlie haas needs to ditch the “mimic gimmick” and start seriously wrestling.. the man can do it, if he is allowed. the mimicking thing has next to no shelf life, and i think charlie is nearing his expiration date with it. he better do something QUICK or he’s gonna get cut from the roster.. AGAIN!
the ten man tag was total chaos.. save those things for survivor series when they actually MEAN something. the sad part is that dolph ziggler has WORLDS of talent, but his gimmick wont get him anywhere in a hurry.
wwe needs SERIOUS restructuring, and the ONLY way to do that is to cut out ECW completely and dont think the fans are stupid enough to buy into the “blue brand vs the red brand” garbage. make all THREE “brands” one show.. its not like the fans believe the “warring shows” thing anyway
RAW had hit its peak during the “monday night wars” and since vinnie mac gobbled up wcw theres no real monday night competition anymore… their main competition is THEMSELVES.. and it seems that their creative department doesnt live up to its name. which is evidenced by the horrible shawn michaels/jbl angle. its pretty sad when vinces HIGHLY PAID CREATIVE TEAM rips off the story from mickey rourke’s movie.. ten bucks says that when michaels finally faces jbl, mickey rourke is gonna be at ringside. i can see it coming now.
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Hey guys and welcome to another review of last night’s live Raw show from Manchester New Hampshire!
I have to say i had high hopes for the show when Rey Mysterio kicked off the show and called out HBK and asked to face him in a match to see who would go on to wrestle in the fatal 4 way match later on in the night, when Michael’s accepted i was like yes this will be one hell of a match then low and behold JBL’s music hits and i knew right away that he would not allow HBK to wrestle as he decides what HBK does nowadays, and to make matters worse afterwards we see Mike Knox for the 10th time take out Rey Mysterio and then John Cena runs out to the ring to help Mysterio by taking out Knox- Knox for me will be the next Snitsky it will not work and when Cena ran out and took Knox out that for me told me that was the end of Knox he will go nowhere and it proved it later on in the night when Knox was pinned in the 10 man tag team match, which for me was a slow contest and i honestly felt like switching the tv station over that it was so poor, the only person i give thumbs up to in that 10 man tag was Kofi Kingston he is working his socks off at the moment, the rest for me didnt perform or they weren’t given enough in ring time.
The Divas Battle Royal match bombed, it was done far too quickly, Candice Michelle elimanated after 30 seconds doesnt make her any better and Katie Lea Burchill(Why is she their? the camera doesnt even go onto her it’s like she isnt even their!)- anyway Melina got the win what was so obvious and afterwards Rosa Mendez helped the Glamazon when her a Melina had a **** fight- overall a pretty boring segment the only good thing was Santino’s commentary.
Legacy members had 3 matches last night if one of them lost they were apparently out of the faction, Cody Rhodes beat CM Punk via countout in a short and uneventful contest, Regal outside once again with Layla is utterly annoying and it’s now getting pointless- Regal took Punk out with a knee to the head and set up their IC Title match for next week on Raw, by the way their is now way Regal loses the title next week.
Manu lost to Matt Hardy in a not so bad contest, he now appears to be out of legacy and Sim Snuka who may now be on his way to better things defeated Charlie Haas!
The only thing that is interesting me with this legacy angle is what part will Ted Diabese have when he returns, i expect interesting things from him and where does Manu go from here? back to FCW?
And now onto the Main Event, a fatal four way generally means all 4 competitors are in the ring at the same time, what the hell was all this tagging in and out carry on all about?
Orton and Jericho the 2 competitors who are on fire at the moment are the first 2 elimanated, an utter outcry, so we have to sit and watch JBL and Michaels stare each other out for 5 minutes and even though Michaels kept backing away from what JBL wanted him to do it was so obvious that JBL would end up pinning Michaels anyway i dont want to even talk about it- overall a stupid angle and i have wonder what HBK actually thinks about this angle- to add spice to the angle i would honestly like Undertaker to make an appearance and try to talk sense into HBK setting up a fued between the two going into Wrestlemania 25!
So now we have JBL v Cena at the Royal Rumble a terrible decision by WWE creative and i just hope WWE get their act together in the next few weeks leading up to the Rumble.
As always i would like your thought’s on this blog either via WWE UNIVERSE or send me an email to Sevillecfc@aol.com
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Kieran Daly- Scotland
P.S I thought last night’s crowd in New Hampshire were so quiet it was like a graveyard/cemetery all evening.
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I thought RAW was tremendous last night! To all of you that think the JBL/HBK angle is a waste of time, I guess you just don’t know what a good storyline is! You would rather have the same tired storylines of good guy/bad guy or a two guys fighting over some chick angle, instead of something that is truly affecting people in TODAY’S world! The economic crisis driving a storyline, now that is quality and relevant. This isn’t the 80’s guys, sorry, or even the 90’s. The storyline is mutually beneficial, helping Michaels get a relevant storyline and getting JBL major heel heat. A fan even threw a loaded coffee cup in the ring at the end of the segment. These angles develop characters and are fresh. Sorry if it is not the cookie cutter format you’re use to.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
