WWE Raw Review - 6th April 2009

After a below standard Wrestlemania could the creative team restore my faith in good ship WWE.

Good Points

Wheels set in motion for Backlash

Vice was out on Raw to let Randy know that he would not be facing HHH one on one at Backlash but instead it would be a six man tag with HHH, vince and Shane McMahon going up against Legacy. However this then changed to a title match meaning if anyone on HHH side wins HHH keeps the belt but if anyone from Legacy wins Orton wins the belt. Vickie Guerrero also announced that it would be Edge vs. Cena in one on one competition for Backlash.

The return of the Animal

Batista made his return to raw last night a night after I predicted he would turn up. Batista came in to make the save for the McMahons and HHH after they were getting beaten down by legacy. This lead Vince to give his spot in the Backlash main event Batista. I smell a doublecross here, I think Batista will turn on HHH and the McMahons costing them the match at Backlash and helping Orton get the belt.

Tag match gets centre stage

After missing out on the main card at Wrestlemania The Colons and Miz & Morrison put on a superb match which would get anyone questioning why they lost their spot. I just hope the get a match on the main Backlash card.

Bad Points

HHH pushed to the side

After being victorious at mania I thought HHH would be given more ring and mic time but instead he had to take a backseat to his Father-in-Law Vince. I hope it gets back to normal next week letting HHH and Orton lead the feud.

All star mess

This was a weak creative idea and showed that creative team hadn’t put much thought in to what to do with these guys after mania. Seeing Steamboat on a one off was good but not any more and why have Edge and Big Show on the same team after they fought against each other last night.

Overall

A very decent raw with a great main event for Backlash pushed, build a couple of good things around it and it should be a good event.

WWE Raw Review - 30th March 2009

Normally in the build for Wrestlemania all the storyline development is finished a couple of weeks before Mania with the last week just being used to hype Mania so I had no doubt it would be the same this year.

Good Points

HBK earning the title of Mr. Wrestlemania

HBK did another great set with the Undertaker, we first saw him inside a hearse backstage and then he brought a casket to the ring with him to deliver a promo on The Undertaker. During his promo the lights went out and Undertaker was in the ring but HBK had disappeared only for him to emerge from Under the coffin to lay another attack on Taker. Can’t wait to see these two go at it at Mania.

The fighting McMahon family

I always thought Vince and Shane would come back to fight alongside HHH against Legacy but I didn’t expect it to happen until Mania. Instead the show ended with Vince and Shane walking down the ramp with HHH and having a scrap with Legacy which I thought was a nice way to end the show.

Bad Points

Cena not given a chance

After hardly being in the ring and on TV as of late I think it was wrong to have him lose to Big Show and to then get beaten up by Edge. We know the main storyline is between Edge and Big show but it doesn’t mean they need to write off Cena completely.

Jericho fighting a losing battle

Jericho continued to put in some good work in the ring and on the mic but it is all really for nothing. This week he fought Lawler who many thought would be his Wrestlemania opponent. Jericho beat him in the match but didn’t do one of usual attacks and his opponents for Mania were nowhere to be seen.

Overall

A couple of highlights but all in all as expected a thin shown with not much going on.

WWE Raw Review - 19th January 2009

With one week to go until the Royal Rumble and with Vince’s return to Raw tonights show looked on paper as if it was going to be a hot show but could WWE deliver.

Good Points

HBK Speaks

During the contract signing between Cena and JBL it was great to see HBK take the mic and verbalise his frustrations with his situation and with it has probably won back some of the fans sympathy. This should have been done a lot longer ago but at least it was done. I just hope that he doesn’t overshadow the match at the Rumble but I guess he will either cost Cena the title and go full on heel or do a swerve on JBL.

CM Punk new IC Champion

Was great to see a brilliant wrestling match to end the Regal / CM Punk series and to see Punk with a belt he truly deserves. I think he can elevate the Intercontinental title and it is a title he can be given a proper run with unlike the Heavyweight title. Hopefully this will bring an upturn in the Raw mid card.

Bad Points

Silly Storylines overshadow important ones

With it being one week to the Rumble the important storyline should be the title feud but no this week it was Jericho begging for his job back which he eventually got. Then it was Orton’s turn to come down to the ring to meet with Vince McMahon to demand an apology to which Vince didn’t take kindly to. So the upshot of this was Orton attacking McMahon to end a far fetched storyline and to end Vince’s first night back. If you are going to do silly things like this wait until after the Rumble.

No build for the Rumble match

There was no real build or mention of the rumble match on Raw. Nobody came out to deliver a promo saying that they could win the rumble and no one seemed to care about it which will only devalue the event.

Overall

Didn’t do what the show should have done which was to promote Cena/JBL and the Rumble match instead we were greeted by crazy booking.

WWE Raw Review - 19th January 2009

With one week to go until the Royal Rumble and with Vince’s return to Raw tonights show looked on paper as if it was going to be a hot show but could WWE deliver.

Good Points

HBK Speaks

During the contract signing between Cena and JBL it was great to see HBK take the mic and verbalise his frustrations with his situation and with it has probably won back some of the fans sympathy. This should have been done a lot longer ago but at least it was done. I just hope that he doesn’t overshadow the match at the Rumble but I guess he will either cost Cena the title and go full on heel or do a swerve on JBL.

CM Punk new IC Champion

Was great to see a brilliant wrestling match to end the Regal / CM Punk series and to see Punk with a belt he truly deserves. I think he can elevate the Intercontinental title and it is a title he can be given a proper run with unlike the Heavyweight title. Hopefully this will bring an upturn in the Raw mid card.

Bad Points

Silly Storylines overshadow important ones

With it being one week to Mania the important storyline should be the title feud but no this week it was Jericho begging for his job back which he eventually got. Then it was Orton’s turn to come down to the ring to meet with Vince McMahon to demand an apology to which Vince didn’t take kindly to. So the upshot of this was Orton attacking McMahon to end a far fetched storyline and to end Vince’s first night back. If you are going to do silly things like this wait until after the Rumble.

No build for the Rumble match

There was no real build or mention of the rumble match on Raw. Nobody came out to deliver a promo saying that they could win the rumble and no one seemed to care about it which will only devalue the event.

Overall

Didn’t do what the show should have done which was to promote Cena/JBL and the Rumble match instead we were greeted by crazy booking.

WWE Raw Review - 30th June 2008

With ratings at a low and with the results of Night of Champions meaning Raw had no champion I was wondering what they were going to do on Raw tonight. WWE needed to do something big to win back the ratings and following Vince’s accident last week I was hoping for a good one and boy did it deliver.

Good Points

CM Punk cashes in the MITB

CM Punk followed up his draft to Raw by cashing in his MITB after Batista had laid out Edge and won the belt. Edge had come down to cut a promo on how nobody from Raw could now touch him after Night of Champions which Batista had interrupted. This was the only logical way to get the belt back on Raw and to use up CM Punk’s Money in the Bank without him cashing it in at a main event. Nobody ever believed he would win the title because of backstage politics, his size and the relatively small period of time he has been in WWE for. To have all this happen in the first half hour of Raw was amazing.

Vince off the scene and inmates are running the asylum

I think the WWE creative team are trying to recreate what they wanted to do with the aborted Vince death angle from last year. Having Shane come on to not comment on his father’s injury all but writes him out for the time being so that no one has on screen control. Just left us with the unpredictability factor. First JBL came down to proclaim marshal law with his own team of security to remove Cena from the building after challenging CM Punk to a title match later in the evening only for Cena to come back with Cryme Time to take out the security team.

JR Speech

Was great to see JR come down to give a farewell speech and plug the life out of Smackdown which is the first time I have seen and heard Smackdown plugged so much on Raw. WWE are really getting behind Smackdown at the moment to give it a good launch on the new network.

Bad Points

Women’s scene is dead

It was time for another throwaway women’s match on Raw between Mickie James and Jillian. Was good to see Katie lea get some backstage time but they need to keep her involved in the women’s title scene.

Use of jobbers

With the talent in WWE and a packed Raw I was dismayed to see two no name jobbers being used to go against Rhodes and Dibiase. It’s like a flashback to the 80’s. Matches like this do no one any favours.

Overall

The first world title change on Raw for some time shows just how much WWE are trying to up the ratings. I am loving the current climate on Raw with no one in charge should make for some entertaining TV. For the first time in a while I am really looking forward to the next Raw.

WWE Raw Review - 9th June 2008

The last week has been a hive of press conferences and media relations for the WWE in the build up to Mr McMahon’s Million dollar Mania which was happening tonight on Raw. With Smackdown gaining on Raw every week in the viewing ratings WWE were hoping this would be a ratings winner.

Good Points

Three Good Feuds

Chris Jericho / Shawn Michaels feud

This has to be the best feud on Raw after tonight’s show. Jericho is one of the most intelligent guys on the mic and played the crowd brilliantly tonight. This ended with Jericho finally snapping after weeks of threatening to by putting HBK’s head through a TV screen.

Mr. Kennedy / Paul Burchill

Great to see Burchiil in a feud with such an established star. Although Mr. Kennedy got the victory in their match an attack by Burchill on Kennedy after the match means it isn’t dead in the water. Unfortunately though unless one of them gets a title in the next couple of weeks we won’t see them at the next PPV.

HHH / Cena

Good to see these two headlining again. Although this has been put together due to injuries to other stars I would quite happily sit through a series of matches of these guys culminating at Summerslam.

Bad Points

Mr. McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania or should I say madness

The viewing ratings are in from Monday night’s and after Vince gave away his own money and the ratings haven’t improved so Vince gave away his money for nothing. There were many segments of the show dedicated to the competition which were agonising to watch. First off when Vince tried to dial the number of the winners many of the calls didn’t work and watching someone make a phone call in a five minute segment isn’t entertaining.

Beth Phoenix getting misused

After being built up for months as an unbeatable wrestler Beth seems to now be coming out on a weekly basis to lose to Mickie James. For Mickie James to be built again she needs a strong opponent to go against.

Santino and Carlito getting the mess around

Again it’s another case of crazy booking. After weeks of being built and getting mic time this week they lost to Cryme Time to who are regularly on Raw and with no mic time. If this wasn’t bad enough Ted Bibiase Junior and a partner of his choosing have next tag title shot and the tag champs just lost to the new pairing of Snitsky and Umaga in a non title match.

Overall

You could fast forward through a lot of this week’s show if you have it on record. Besides Jericho’s Highlight Reel there wasn’t much mic time for anyone and there was no flow to the show thanks to the Million Dollar competition. Three good feuds are in place they just now need to give them time and develop them properly.

WWE Raw Review - 26th May 2008

I was looking forward to Raw tonight with one Night Stand only a week away I was looking forward to see how the headline feuds would develop and get us in the mood for the PPV.

Good Points

Lots of Vince segments

I think Mr. McMahon is one of the best on screen characters in the WWE so to see him heavily featured was great. He proclaimed that tonight was going to be Fan Appreciation night which lead to many funny backstage segments with wrestlers coming to Vince and telling him what he should do to show appreciation to the fans. This culminated in the end with Vince saying that he is going to be giving away some of his millions in the coming weeks on Raw which has never been done before.

New Wrestler Debuts

Was great to see WWE legend the Million Dollar Man introduce his son and latest addition to the Raw roster who is also called Ted Dibiase. Immediately he laid down a challenge to the tag champs and set the wheels in motion for a feud with Holly and Rhodes.

Finally Burchill has a feud

After Mr. Kennedy getting William Regal fired last week Burchill this week decided to blindside Mr. Kennedy after his match with Carlito and after he had been distracted by Katie lea. I just hope they handle this properly and make it a good feud so that Burchill can get some regular TV time and a PPV match.

Bad Points

Lack of build for One Night Stand

Besides the first ten minutes which had a face off between HHH and Randy Orton little was done to build the main event matches for ONS. The last match of the night was Jericho vs. HBK when you also have Cena / JBL or HHH / Orton who should have been part of the last match. The show was then ended by a great Vince McMahon segment but in my opinion this should have been saved for the episode of Raw after One night stand.

Silly Roddy Piper segments

Now I know they want to give Roddy something to do and that the involvement with the Jimmy Kimmel show is great publicity but I can’t stand these segments with Roddy getting involved with the people on the show. If they were to be having a match with either Roddy or the guys from the show on One night Stand then it would make sense but at the moment it just provides a throw away segment every week.

Overall

The complete opposite of last weeks show, last week was heavy on the build for ONS but light on the entertainment whereas this weeks show was light of the build for ONS but heavy on thee entertainment.

WWE Raw Review - 17th March 2008

Two weeks away from Wrestlemania and the last week of Triple Threat Takeover, I was really looking forward to this week’s Raw and it delivered in spades with their best offering for some time. The show with a few minor exceptions was well paced and very entertaining and developed a lot of feuds nicely for Mania.

Good Points

A push for Jericho

With only two episodes of Raw to go before Mania it was great to see him opening the show with his Highlight Reel section. His guest this week was the Big Show and after a good war of words between the two a match was made between them for later on in the show for the Intercontinental title. After being poorly handled since his return I hope they continue his push and that he wins ‘Money in the Bank’ at Mania.

Good storyline development

With a few exceptions all the matches served well to develop storylines for Wrestlemania. Umaga was dominant again beating Kendrik and London, Jericho got himself disqualified to keep the belt but ended up being knocked out after one punch from the big Show and HBK came and made the save for Ric Flair to prevent him getting fired after Flair had asked him not to.

JBL the one man Heat machine

His match with Colin Delaney may have been pointless, you make think he is an idiot and you may think that he wrestling ability is limited at best but one thing JBL can do is work a crowd. His mic and character work as a heel are awesome and after only recently coming back to the active roster he is already one of the most hated heels on Raw.

Great Ending

TNA really need to watch this episode of Raw as they showed how to end a show. An ending of a show should be crazy with lots of things happening like this week’s episode of Raw had but when the cameras go off air the viewers need a definitive image and happening which they got. I thought Cena and Orton’s match against the entire Raw roster was well booked and kept both of them strong whilst still keeping it believable. We also finally ended a Raw with HHH on top after laying the beat on Orton and Cena after their match.

Bad Points

No Mayweather

With Mayweather costing the WWE millions of dollars to bring in you thought they would be getting better use out of him. With this being the match that has got the media attention for Wrestlemania they need him on their weekly shows to get their money’s worth. Now his non appearance may have been because of a contractual reason but if the WWE invested all this cash in him and not to have it put in a contract that he had to be on every Raw before Mania makes no sense.

Two people with the combined age of hundred having a wrestling match on Raw isn’t the best idea.

The Vince McMahon vs. Ric Flair was one of the most shockingly awful matches I have seen on raw and was only saved by HBK in the end. The match looked weak and was very slow. I know they did it to cash in on Vince’s induction on to the Walk of Fame in Hollywood but the match must have left every wrestling fan across the world hiding behind the sofa because of it’s cringeworthyness.

What to do with Santino

Santino Marella was in three segments of Raw this week normally it is main event stars that get this amount of segments in a show. By putting him in a number of segments it’s obvious the WWE like him but they won’t put him in a full blown singles match and is yet to have a proper one on one feud. I fear in a minute he may be the next Taz who came over to be a wrestler but was soon moved to other duties which now see him as a commentator.

Overall

The WWE did the most important things right and built the right matches for mania. Would have liked to have seen Batista on the show to develop his feud with Umaga but at least I got see a minute or so of Burchill. If the WWE just iron out these little issues they could have the best Raw for some time next week.