WWE Raw Review - 3rd November 2008

This week were greeted with a three hour special episode of Raw to celebrate its 800th show. Now regular readers know I’m not usually a fan of three hour TV shows so I was curious to see if this show would change my mind.

Good Points

Return of Randy Orton

Was great to see the in ring return of Randy Orton, it wasn’t the most convincing or well crafted segments that lead to his in ring return but all that matters is that he’s back competing again as Raw needs more big stars at the moment.

Adamle Resigns

Glad to see the back of Adamle as GM. In a show which is all about feuds and characters trying to have a non biased one dimensional GM just doesn’t work. The GM needs to be a character just as much as the wrestlers.

Big Matches

Was great to see some big matches on Raw including a rare reuniting of the Hardy Boyz, Undertaker vs. JBL and the cage title match between Jericho and Batista. On top of this we had a rare performance from DX, now I usually say they should bury that gimmick and leave it buried but they had a great match with Miz and Morrison and although they won they did a lot to put over Miz and Morrison.

Bad Points

Title mess

Now I know they wanted to do something big for the 800th but having Jericho win his title back was terrible booking. Even CM Punk held the belt longer than Batista and he was a transitional champ. It made Cyber Sunday look pointless, made Batista look weak for dropping the belt clean on Raw and did nothing to build Jericho as he would have been a stronger champ if he had retained it at Cyber Sunday.

Shane and Steph

Now I normally love it when the McMahons are on TV but I didn’t think the segments with these two were up to the normal McMahon standards. Bring back Vince that’s what I say.

Overall

One of my favourite ever three hour shows. I still think it is too long for a casual fan but for a wrestling fan it was a great three hours of TV.

WWE Raw Review - 29th August 2008

After last week’s 800th episode special of Raw I was looking forward to see what they were going to do with the last Raw before No Mercy. With two big Raw feuds on the PPV it would be interesting to see what they did to hook people to buy the PPV.

Good Points

Good development for JBL / Batista feud

This feud got some great TV time on Raw. To make up for not giving Batista a title push this year as of yet creative are trying to keep him strong and in the focus. Both JBL and Batista landed sucker blows on their No Mercy opponent blindsiding each other after their respective matches. This should be a brutal match at No Mercy.

Second Generation Stable

WWE are building this faction of DiBiase. Rhodes and Manu brilliantly as this week they were all able to compete in one match on the same team in a rare eight man tag on Raw. Not only did they get this but they got good backstage time as they tried to convince Kane to join their group.

Orton kept in the Spotlight

I like what the creative team are doing with this making Orton feud with Adamle as it keeps Orton on TV and it help builds Adamle. Just the question is at the moment when will Randy return to full ring action.

Bad Points

Poor build for main event

Besides the main event match Jericho didn’t get any TV time. When you are building for a PPV the best way to do is through backstage segments, promos and mic time but when the champion isn’t given any of that how is he suppose to get the feud to boiling point. To add to this ad make it worse instead of build Jericho Michaels they decided to bring HHH back and reform DX again for another one night special which overshadowed the actual feud they are suppose to be building.

Too much time for Santino

Now I love Santino, the boy cracks me up but when he is getting more time on the mic at backstage than your main event guys then there is a problem. Although I bet Santino isn’t complaining.

Overall

A decent outing nothing to jump and down about, can’t say I am excited about No Mercy but it is normally the events that you go in with low expectations that turn out to be the good ones.

WWE Raw Review - 8th September 2008

After a great ending to Unforgiven I was looking forward to seeing the first Raw under the reign of Jericho. What would happen to Batista? Would we see CM Punk or Michaels show up? All these questions had to be answered.

Solid start from Jericho

It was nothing flashy but Jericho did what he needed to do selling the beating that Michael gave him and acting like any good heel does by trying to squirm his way out of matches that Adamle had set up for him. Next week it will be Jericho vs. CM Punk in a steel cage for the title meaning that we may not see Punk in the main event scene for the next PPV as he gets his rematch early. When Michaels and CM Punk are back then we will see the real start to his reign I think.

Second Generation stars get a backbone

Over the last few weeks Orton has been the master manipulator backstage getting fellow second generation stars to his dirty work for him whilst taking all the credit for it. This week on Raw Rhodes, DiBiase and Manu had, had enough as Orton managed to get clear of the ring before an altercation could happen. Does this now mean they are pushing the group o second generation stars as faces now?

Bad Points

Push for Batista or lack of it

Just after you started to think they were going to push Batista they have now got him involved in a feud with JBL which is not what I would call a push. I’m no Batista fan but they have kept him hanging on down the card for some time now and really need to do something big with him.

Not enough going on

The three main storylines the show featured around weren’t ground breaking and there weren’t any what I would call major developments. The three storylines being, Jericho, Batista/JBL and the Second Generation storyline. Everything else was just filler.

Overall

Not much to get excited about or memorable from this episode. Was good to see Evan Bourne who most wrestling fans who follow the indy scene will know as Matt Sydal get a chance on Raw after some time spent on ECW. Was interesting to see him use the shooting star press in his match as I thought this move had been outlawed after Billy Kidman once messed it up a few weeks on the trot.

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 - 28th July 2008

After missing lat weeks Raw due to problems with my PVR I was looking forward to getting back in the weekly routine and see what was happening on the Raw Brand.

Good Points

On screen return of Shane McMahon

Don’t know if we will see him again for a while or not but it was good to see Shane on the show as he got ready to announce the new GM for Raw. The show always seems to be better when there is a McMahon on the show.

Return of William Regal

After his recent drugs problems it was good to see the return of William Regal and to see him pushed to the top immediately with a non title match against CM Punk. He was even given the title of hottest free agent by Shane which is a heck of a compliment.

Great stuff with Jericho

Jericho came on to the show to present his last ever Highlight Reel and to officially bury his old happy go lucky persona. Jericho is doing really well in his heel roll and is now staking his claim for a heavyweight title shot which is good to see.

Bad Points

Mike Adamle new GM!

After at last minute Michael Cole was thrown in to a match at Raw and when Mike Adamle came don to replace him in commentary it was obvious who the new GM was going to be but it has to rank up there as one of the worst decisions in some time. Because of the huge paycheque Mike gets and because he is no good on commentary they had to give him something worthwhile to do to justify his price tag. All I can say is I hope this is only a short reign.

Kane pushed to the side

After having a strong storyline over recent weeks with him going on the warpath with his bag asking if he is dead or a live whoever he is we don’t know, Kane now is back to a bit part. This week he had to do the job in the main event as Cena pinned him for the three count and giving Kane very little other time except for coming down at the end of the CM Punk match.

Overall

A great show ruined by the final announcement of Adamle as GM. Just shows you that two hours of hard work can be destroyed with a few moments of madness.