WWE Raw Review - Monday 26th January 2009

After what was in my opinion one of the best Rumble’s for some years we are now truly on the road to Wrestlemania. What was going to happen on the first Raw after the Rumble. Was Orton going to get fired and what as JBL going to do about HBK’s actions at the Rumble.

Good Points

Shane o Mac is back

Was brilliant to see Shane back on Raw to defend his dad’s honour and attack Randy Orton. It was as Shane had flipped and wanted to kill Orton for what he had one which made for some great television. It would be good if they could build a feud between these two for No Way Out which will set Orton up nicely for Mania.

Mickey Rourke going to Wrestlemania

After the staggering success of the film “The Wrestler” Mickey Rourke is going to make art imitate life or will it be art imitating art when he squares off against Chris Jericho at mania. This was a big announcement on Raw and is a great sideway move for Jericho to get him in a big fight but not involved in the championship.

Push for Kofi

After doing nothing since his tag team title run Kofi is going to be given another push as he gets involved his first main event at a PPV after winning the right to be in the Elimination Chamber match announced for No Way Out. Will be interesting to see how he does.

Bad Points

Randy Orton’s reasoning

The end of Shane beating up Orton made up for a dire start to Raw but boy did it start dire. Randy Orton gave his reasoning for beating up Vince as him suffering from IED Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Surely anyone in wrestling could use this as a defence or reasoning for doing anything. It would have made more sense for him to be non apologetic for his actions but just solely use some contractual reasons for not being able to fire him.

Cena way down the pecking order

After playing second fiddle to JBL and Michaels in the build up to his Rumble match, Cena this week was only used in one segment and that was his match which was used to further the JBL and HBK storyline.

Overall

An exciting episode of Raw which kept me enthralled from start to finish. A great way to start the road to Mania I just hope the shows can continue to get better and better on the run to Mania.

WWE Raw Review - 4th August 2008

With it being Mike Adamle’s first Raw as GM I was very intrigued to see if my opinions of Mike would change after viewing this weeks episode or whether this would be the worst raw in history.

Good Points

Interesting matchmaking

I will get on to Mike Adamle the character a bit later on but I was impressed with his match making. First we had Jericho and JBL in a handicap match against CM Punk with the stipulation being whoever got the pin would get the title match at SummerSlam. Then he made an interesting match for SummerSlam which will see IC Champ Kofi Kingston tagging with Womens champ Mickie James against Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix and if the team of Santino and Beth win they both win a title.

John Cena gets bigger cheer than Batista

With Cena being the most controversial face in WWE for some time with his mixed fan reactions it was great to hear him getting a louder pop than Batista at the close of the show. I think he WWE were hoping for Batista to get the pop as they seem to be building him as the to face in the promotion so I found this comical as the WWE need to learn they can’t push a face and make the audience like them

William Regal back in the mix

After having the best match on Raw last week with CM Punk it was good to see Regal getting some mic time. Regal made mention to his King of the Ring win earlier in the year so it look like the WWE are pushing him to be a major player which was the plan before his last suspension.

Bad Points

Paul Burchill getting used as a jobber

First it looked like Paul was going to feud with Mr. Kennedy then they had him lose in their first match which killed that and now they have done the same with him and Kofi Kingston. After a little build up he has already jobbed to Kofi killing that dead. The only thing they can do now to save Burchill is to have him and Katie lea interfere in Kofi’s tag match at SummerSlam.

Mike Adamle’s terrible character

A GM needs to be ruthless and stick up for the heels if he is a heel GM or if he is a face GM he needs to be assertive and stop the heels at every turn. Instead we have him built like Cena was to start with as a man that wants to win over the fans as a face. Mike shouldn’t be left too long by himself with the mic as he worked ok when in a segment with another person but his opening address was terrible.

Tired old storyline

The WWE have recycled a very old storyline idea for SummerSlam as they had John Cnea and batista winning the tag belts before their match at SummerSlam. This has been done icountless times when two faces are going head to head to try and build discontent between the two as they soon fall out and distrust each other.

Overall

A good episode but not the best didn’t like Jericho’s new ring attire with trunks instead of tights ut I do hope they make the title match a triple threat with Jericho involved as he deserves a big match and it will give HBK the chance to interfere. Although the show wasn’t the best there are a lot of things which could happen because of the storyline developments so it has made me want to tune in next week which is the whole point of a weekly wrestling show.

WWE Raw Review - 7th July 2008

After the best episode of Raw this year I was wondering what the creative team were going to pull out the bag this week.

Good Points

New Feud for Burchill

After his last feud finished very abruptly with Mr. Kennedy Burchill has now been set up as an opponent for Kofi Kingston. Burchill waited for Kofi to secure the victory over Charlie Haas before laying him out. Good to see Burchill already being put in the Intercontinental title scene.

In ring return of Rey Mysterio

Was great to see Rey back in the ring and eased in lightly against Santino. All of his trademarks were as crisp as ever and I can’t wait to see what the long term plans are for him.

More out of control action

This week it was Stephanie’s turn to come out and appeal for calm before Raw started. However what we witnessed was out of control as all the top stars booked themselves in to the main event match to become number one contender for CM Punk.

Bad Points

Poor match quality

For CM Punk’s second title match he had to go against Snitsky In a middle of the card match. We also had Charlie Haas and a terrible Diva tag match to add to the mix. It was like Smackdown last week.

Use of Smackdown stars

I thought it was poor to start Raw with Vickie Guerrero in the ring talking about how CM Punk had ruined her life. I think yes use Smackdown stars on Raw and vice versa but don’t use storylines which have only played out on a specific brand on the other brand. Viewers need continuity and consistency.

Kane getting pushed

Out of nowhere Kane received his biggest push as he went crazy after the main event following Batista beating him in the fatal four way. Add to this what looks like the return to the JBL / Cena feud and Raw suddenly looks a mess again.

Overall

Making the show seem uncontrollable is good entertainment but there has to be some sensible booking underneath the madness.