WWE Raw Review - 24th March 2008

The Raw before Wrestlemania is always the most important Raw of the year. This is when the wrestlers and the creative team should have created a huge buzz by and the show should do the best ratings of the year. The viewing rating for the Raw before Mania is very important at it affects the number of buys the PPV does. All the feuds should be laid out by now and this episode of Raw should just be a preview of what to expect this weekend. So with this in mind I was really looking forward to see if the WWE delivered.

Good Points

Great Start

The first five minutes of Raw were great as John Cena delivered one of his strongest in ring promos for some time. Whatever you think about Cena he knows how to work the mic and get a crowd going. However after this it became a mess which I will talk about in my bad points section later.

Good time given to Flair and Michaels

After weeks and weeks of little bits Flair and Michaels got a fair chunk of time on Raw for their in ring segment. I think Flair deserves a proper send off this weekend so although I don’t like the build up for this one I enjoyed one last Flair rant and even a history making event as for the first time since TNA used the NWA championship as their title Flair brought it with him to Raw to show his history.

Push for MVP and Carlito

With many people thinking that either Jericho or Kennedy are going to win MITB it was good to see MVP and Carlito beating the team of CM Punk and Chris Jericho. It was also a nice way to get other people from the MITB involved but still keep that Jericho / MVP feud going.

Bad Points

After Cena’s opening promo

The opening segment of Raw turned in to a mess after Cena’s promo as not only did Orton and HHH come down to the ring for a war of words we had Big Show, Umaga and JBL all jumping in there. Now it was funny to hear Umaga talk but at Wrestlemania you need to push your main event ahead of everything else which didn’t happen here. You can make a case for the Big Show to be there but only if it made sense which it didn’t but for JBL and Umaga whose matches are well down the card even below MITB and the Flair possible retirement match I think devalued the main event. This section got none of the feuds over and just felt like a comedy moment.

Big Show / Mayweather feud

This has to be the worst handled feud in recent wrestling history. You have got the big Show trying to be face but not succeeding and then being booked on the heel side of the tag match main event for Raw. On the other side you’ve got Mayweather who is trying to be the cool face but who again not many people like. If this wasn’t bad enough Mayweather has hardly been seen on Raw and was nowhere to be seen on the most important Raw except for video inserts. This started off with what was one of the most memorable moments in WWE history and has just fizzled in to a mess much like there match will be at Wrestlemania. Also slightly on another note Kennedy is suppose to be one of the main stars in the MITB match but ever since the Raw after No Way Out he has hardly wrestled.

Wasting Time

Every moment is precious selling space on the Raw before Mania so what the WWE creative team was doing having Holly for Khali who are both only going to be in the Battle Royal if anything which hasn’t been promoted.

Terrible Ending

Now on the Raw before Mania the person you should be pushing at the close of the show is either the champion or the challenger for the championship. Instead in what can only be described as sentimental booking by WWE Ric Flair made Orton tap from the figure of four winning the big eight man match for his team. I’m all for giving Flair a great send off but you don’t do at the expense of the show as a whole. To have Orton lose clean in the middle of the ring the show before Mania has weakened his position and weakened the main event.

Overall

If this was just your average episode of Raw this would have just been a mess but as it was the Raw before Mania it was an absolute disaster.