The following is WZ reader feedback from last night’s Monday Night Raw broadcast. If you would like to send in your thoughts, please email us at [email protected]!
The following is from Beverly
I had to say I was pretty excited for Raw this week. We still have a lot of fall out from the PPV.
Chris Jericho v. Rey Mysterio IC Title Match
Chris and Rey always manage to entertain the fans both live and at home. I know that both of them have tremendous talent and passion. That always shows in their matches together. I am disappointed that the focus continues to be Rey’s being unmasked. He was unmasked in WCW and all anyone has to do is google image search him and there he is with no mask! But good match none the less. Jericho wins it to continue the feud!
3 out of 5 stars
I thought the segment between Randy Orton and John Cena was fun to see. Would have liked a little more emotion from Randy.
Vince’s first segment was interesting. I was intrigues because it actually did not spill on line first! Vince is selling RAW! WHAT!?
Tommy Dreamer v. Christian ECW Title match
I am so excited for Tommy Dreamer being ECW champion. Tommy has jobbed to everyone Vince has asked him to. I am glad he has finally gotten his time to shine! He and Christian work so well together. I look forward to their feud lasting for a while. The match was great! Tommy came out on top to retain his ECW title!
4 out of 5 stars
Fatal four way for the vacant WWE title
Randy Orton v. HHH v. John Cena v. Big Show
The match was decent. John Cena got put over as the top face on Raw as usual and did the most work in my opinion. Seeing John give Big Show the Attitude Adjustment still impresses me. Randy got the pin on Big Show after John Cena had him beat. No big surprise! Randy Orton is once again WWE champion.
3 out of 5
Vince comes to the ring. He announces that the new owner of Raw is Donald Trump. At this point I was very disappointed. I think it would have made a lot more sense to make it Ric Flair or at least have Donald announce Ric as the new GM of Raw. We did find out that next week on Raw there will be no commercials. It will be interesting to see how resetting the ring and things goes with no time to do that. We have the announcement that there will be a ten man battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the WWE championship.
Mickie James v. Rosa Mendez
Maryse comes to ring side for the match. Sorry to anyone who disagrees with me but Diva matches bore me. Mickie gets the win. Challenges Maryse to come into the ring. She fakes and then heads up the ramp.
2 out of 5
We see a segment between Goldust with Hornswaggle against The Miz. I thought it was a waste of time. I was bored. I guess the feud with Cena is over and will not be resolved properly. Okay!
There is a backstage segment where CM Punk is being interviewed and Matt Hardy comes in to congratulate him on his cashing in the money in the back. They exchange words. I was hoping that we were done with the Matt v. Jeff feud. Guess not. As this segment will probably lead to Matt interfering at the PPV.
CM Punk v. Edge v. Jeff Hardy World title match
This was a very face paced match. There was a lot of 2 counts. Good spots between Punk and Jeff Hardy. In the end, Punk injured his knee and was on the outside. Jeff had Edge down and went for the pin a couple of times with Punk rolling into the ring for the save. Punk and Jeff battle and Jeff ends up on the outside. Punk takes full advantage of Jeff having Edge down and pins him to retain the World title. T-Lo comes out after the match and announces that it will be CM Punk v. Jeff hardy at the Bash.
4 out of 5
The Hart Dynasty v. The Colons
This was a good match for being short in my opinion. Cody and Ted did a good job on commentary which surprised me! In the end they interfere though. It ends in a no contest. in my opinion it should have been a dq win for The hart Dynasty.
3 out of 5
We see Vince sitting with Santino as Vince is talking to Trump. Vince tries to get Trump to let him make an announcement for him after the main event. Trump won’t let him. We have a fun vignette between Santino and Vince once Vince hangs up with the Donald.
Battle Royal:
Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase vs. MVP vs. Matt Hardy vs. William Regel vs. Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. The Big Show vs. HHH vs. John Cena
We start out with Legacy. MVP is next to come out. Followed by the rest. It ends with HHH going over to become #1 contender for the WWE championship. No surprise there!
3 out of 5
The Donald announces that he will give away the Bash match between HHH and Randy Orton next week on the commercial free Raw in a last man standing match!
All in all not a bad show. 3.5 stars
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
The following is from Christopher
Raw for the most part was pretty good.
Jericho and Mysterio was a good opener, although a bit slower paced of
a match than I expected the two of them to have. Good ending with
Mysterio afraid to lose his mask and getting the code breaker.
As tired as I am of John Cena, he’s one of the few on the roster who
can deliver his lines naturally. Although Orton has been getting
better, he still sounds like a Bond villain. You aren’t Jake Roberts
so don’t try to be.
Tommy and Christian had a fair match, I’d have expected much better,
but it was pretty obvious they were on a tight schedule. WWE made
sure we knew it by having a countdown ticker to another match as a bug
on the screen. Really? 9 minutes and 33 seconds til the WWE
Championship match? What if they go longer? World Titles aren’t
meant to be defended in 10 minute matches unless it was a rare
occasion that Bret Hart or Randy Savage were headlining Superstars
against Papa Shango or the Berzerker. Christian needs more
credibility than a roll up ten minutes in, unless we’re to believe
that Tommy Dreamer is just that much more of a veteran mat wrestler
than Christian. I’d believe it over a lot of people, but not Captain
Charisma.
The Fatal Four Way I honestly could care less about. Three guys I’m
over seeing in the title picture and the Big Show. Show will most
likely never get the WWE Title again. HHH and Orton could have a
great feud separate of the title, so why not free it up to some new
guys like MVP, Kofi Kingston or even William Regal? The finish was
logical.
I get that Vince and Trump are friends, but I just couldn’t buy into
the storyline. I wonder if I was a ten year old fan again…would I
believe this? Or was this another Ultimate Warrior bleeding green
goop? Since everyone knows Trump won’t do a long term stint, this
felt like a non-sequitur.
Mickie James and Rosa Mendez was what it was. It’s good to see them
acknowledge that Mickie James’ skill base is head and shoulders above
all of the other Divas short of maybe Beth Phoenix, Katie Lea, and
Melina.
You have to wonder when the ACLU is going to sue WWE…when the Miz
shoots a little person in the crotch with a t-shirt gun…I dunno.
Miz continues to speak the truth and get booed for it. He’s quickly
developing into a must-see heel and fairing far better than I think
any of us expected to after the split with Morrison (who should get a
shot at the WHC, just my opinion).
The Hart Dynasty and the Colons was booked well. Rhodes and DiBiase
are also doing well as the team with great ability, but no clue about
the business. It explains their stance with Orton and I like to think
that they understand that. The Hart Dynasty also was booked well as a
talented team that is still just a bit too green. I really hope they
go places. Good setup for the Championship match at the Bash.
Santino is in grave danger of jumping the shark. He’ll go in the
bargain bin with Steve Austin’s "What?", anything with "Hulk STILL
Rules" on it, and any credibility the NWO had after they were named
the NWO.
The Battle Royal was ok. We knew it’d be Triple H. My only big beef
was the booking. If Hunter was going to win, why not have the crafty
Miz eliminate Cena? It gives him credibility but doesn’t hurt Cena
one bit. Plus it furthers their feud and takes Cena away from the
title picture. This baffled me.
Raw was a better than average show. It could have been great, but
didn’t capitalize on opportunities it could have, and was just a bit
predictable. I’d give it a solid B, which for a three hour show is
pretty damn good I say.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
The following is from Matt
The opening match with Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio was a great way to open the show. The ECW title match was pretty dull. Tommy Dreamer is like the 40 year old supermodel that finally poses for playboy. Yeah he finally won the title but who gives a damn. The Divas title means more to the WWE then the ECW title anyway. The fatal 4 way was decent, Randy Orton reigns supreme again. I just hope the Triple H feud for the 1,000th time ends soon. Vince’s big annoucement: Donald Trump! Really???? is this Wrestlemania 23? I mean when did wrestling turn into reality tv? This isn’t celebrity apprentice. I wasn’t at the show but I could tell Donald Trump as the "owner" of Raw went over like a fart in church. Vince McMahon is the owner of WWE but has to sell his flagship show Raw to Donald Trump… that’s believable. Vince should sell the divas instead because the divas match was god awful, at least Maryse wasn’t on commentary for once. I’m no fan of the Miz but I must admit I laughed my ass off when he shot Hornswoggle with the t-shirt gun. Oh thanks Jerry Lawler for telling us it wasn’t a real gun by the way. Now I wont lose sleep. Does anyone else despise CM Punk? or is it just me. Not because he is a heel or face but maybe cause he has no skills whatsoever. Too much Santino is a bad thing. Where the hell was Flair???? of all the times to have Flair not show up this was the worst. I know it would be predictable to have Flair as General Manager of Raw but at least it would be over and logical. Mike Adamle would of been a more logical choice for owner of Raw, well not really but neither would Trump. If you could sell your wrestling shows and still be owner of your company in real life Vince should sell ECW back to Paul Heyman and Smackdown or Superstars to TNA if he wants to see real ratings. Once again I’ll be tuning into TNA thursday night for real entertainment.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
The following is from Sean
i thought it was terrible
WWE misuses the big show to the extreme
he is a top performer who cant beat a guy almost less than half his size? (John Cena)
and i personally like the miz character tho because he points out peoples flaws E.G john cena is overrated… goldust cant get back his former glory (which sucks by the way) etc. and the donald trump storyline jst shows wwe is going down hill
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.
