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 - Monday 12th January 2009

With two weeks before the Rumble it was time for WWE to go in to over drive pushing it’s only match on the card at the moment for the Royal Rumble whilst the return of Vince McMahon next week was left hanging over the heads of all on Raw.

Good Points

Cena HBK

They built the main event for Raw brilliantly through out the show with JBL telling HBK that tonight was his Wrestlemania and then some brilliant promos by Cena showing how much he respected HBK as every good guy should. These two then went on to put a brilliant main event to close out Raw with HBK getting the win in the non tile match leaving Cena laying in the ring for JBL to laud over.

Regal / CM Punk series

This week Regal managed to con the ref in to believing that CM Punk had hit him with a low blow to get him disqualified. Stephanie wasn’t having any of it though as she announced that there would be a third match which be no DQ next week. I just hope they finish off the series with a great match as they have built the storyline well they just now need the pay off of a great match.

Bad Points

Jericho is fired

The big shcker on Raw was Steph firing Jericho. This was done within the first half hour of the show when only after a few weeks of slight fallings out Steph fire her in the ring and then Jericho wasn’t seen for the rest of the show. I know this is just to set up a storyline for Vince’s return but it could have been handled so much better. Steph isn’t put across as an irrational character so it made no sense for her to fire Jericho for no reason.

Silly swerves

Raw saw the return of Ted DiBiase who looked to be returning to back up Madu and Sim in a scuffle with Orton and Cody Rhodes however Dibiase swerved them and then joined the team of Orton and Rhodes. DiBiase was put on the shelf in the storyline because he was kicked in the head by Orton so the swerve makes no sense. Swerves are great but there has to be a reason to them. Hopefully Dibiase will be given mic time next week and a decent reason in the storyline why he did what he did.

JBL not in action

In the run up to the Rumble we should be seeing square offs and coming togethers between JBL andd Cena but we haven’t seen any of it. The fans are more interested in what HBK is up to and what he is going to do rather than worrying about the two guys actually in the main event.

Overall

Quite simply a mess, the creative team needs to really refine it’s storylines and really think hard about which ones it should be pushing.

WWE Raw Review - 24th November 2008

After a pretty average Survivor Series tonight it was the WWE’s turn to start the ball rolling for Armageddon. Who would win the right to face Cena and what other feuds were they going to build for the Undercard.

Good Points

Shane and Stephanie running the show

Was good to see these two attempting to run the show in the absence of a GM. They made some good matches and argued over the direction of the show which was a good little storyline. Not sure how long this will continue but to me it beats having a GM.

Cena vs. Jericho for Armageddon

I think this was the right choice of match to end the year with. They set it up nicely with a triple threat on Raw to find out who would face Cena between Batista, Randy Orton and Jericho. Although Batista got the shaft when he was champion it has set him up nicely for a feud with former Evolution team mate Randy Orton which will help Orton get back to the main event scene after months off.

Bad Points

JBL / HBK feud

Haven’t really got in to this one so far and the horrible direction on Raw isn’t helping. This week it was JBL alluding to a deal he was trying to strike with HBK which nobody in the audience knows about. They need to get HBK out of this tag pairing with Rey Mysterio and just let him get on with his feud properly.

Intercontinental Title tournament

This is something you have when a title is vacant not when you have a champion. I believe the tournament will run to Armageddon with the winner getting the shot at the PPV but by having a tournament it will give little or no time for a real storyline or feud to develop between Regal and his challenger.

Overall

Seen a lot worse outings than this. Did what it needed to do and with the Main Event scene looking stacked again it should hopefully be a good end of year in the WWE.

WWE Raw Review - 11th August 2008

With this being the last Raw before SummerSlam I wa hoping the creative team were going to do something to get me interested in the Raw side of the card.

Good points

Nice build for CM Punk vs. JBL

These two should have been giver a larger chunk of the show but they did well with what they had. With JBL you are almost guaranteed a great build up if he is allowed to play his bully character. It was nice how they wove CM Punk’s straightedge character in t it with the liquior challenge and CM Punk throwing it back in JBL’s face.

Good build for Kofi/Mickie vs Santino/Beth

I’m really looking forward to this match. The concept is great they have Santino who is great on the mic and some guys who can really work. They promoted well on Raw with Santino challenging Mickie James to a atch winning it and then celebrating like he had won Gold at the Olympics.

Another solid outing for William Regal

Before his last suspension Regal wasn’t given much inring time but since his return he has been my winner of match of the night on all the Raw’s he has wrestled on. I just hope they get give him more mic time again soon as to build himself properly he needs both in ring time and mic time.

Bad Points

Kane’s bag containing Rey’s mask

In a terribly executed swerve we finally found out what Kane had been hiding in his bag which turned out to be Rey’s mask. With rumours that he may be departing soon I’m not surprised if WWE may want to kill his character off. The problem with this was its execution. A great swerve is one that you didn’t see coming but when you look back on it makes logical sense which this one didn’t. It just again smacked of last minute thinking by the creative team.

Poor build for Cena vs Batista

This match has been so poorly handled it’s untrue. This match should have been saved for Wrestlemania or if they were going to do it have it be for a heavyweight title and have a brilliant storyline to go with it. Try as they might this week on Raw they didn’t generate any interest to me as they both gave weak in ring promos to a mixed crowd response and went off air having lost the tag titles.

Lack of substance

For a Raw before one of the four biggest PPV’s of the year there wasn’t enough substance for me, not enough meaningful matches and not enough storyline development. With time given to Kelly Kelly, The Highlanders, Cryme Time, Jamie Noble, William Regal and Rhodes & DiBiase it broke up the hype for SummerSlam as they are not on the cardas and more time should have been given to the eight Raw stars that are on the card for SummerSlam.

Overall

A pretty boring episode of Raw which didn’t feature enough good non-wrestling segments. The only match on the Raw side I am really looking forward to is the mixed tag and that’s saying something.

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.

WWE Raw Review - 19th May 2008

After being away for over a week and missing TNA Sacrifice as well as all the weekly WWE and TNA shows I was looking forward to tuning in to Raw to see what had happened since I had been away.

Good Points

Good Start

The show started with a bang with the return to Raw of Jeff Hardy after his surprise appearance at Judgement Day. He has been thrown in to another programme with Umaga but at least it was an intense match with Umaga knocking out Jeff Hardy outside of the ring. This is also a good way to ease Jeff back in before he hopefully makes his way back up the card.

Setting up for One Night Stand

With only two weeks to go before ONS they used this episode of Raw well to get four matches announced for it. We had Batista beating Jericho to get a match against HBK at ONS, we had the team of Randy Orton and JBL beating HHH and John Cena so that they could both get rematches from Judgment Day and we had the returning Jeff Hardy beating pitted against Umaga. All of these are stipulation matches.

Katie Lea given some promo time

It was great to see Katie Lea given some promo time as she confronted Mickie James backstage. She is great on the mic and has some great character skills. That would be a big boost for her career if she was put in an ongoing storyline with the Women’s champion.

Bad Points

Lack of use of HHH

We had to wait nearly two hours until we saw the heavyweight champion on screen and his only involvement was a quick backstage segment followed by his match. A heavyweight champion is suppose to carry the brand and be the main reason that people tune in so to use him like this is majorly under using him.

All the time invested Regal gone to waste

Over the last few weeks Regal has been given more on screen time than ever before to build his character of the out of control general manager. All of WWE’s investment came to nothing this week as after he had to be suspended for his second drug violation. To get him off screen quickly he lost to Mr. Kennedy in a loser gets fired match which was all very rushed. I think that drug testing is positive for the company although it can play havoc with the storylines. If WWE is going to invest time in someone they need to make sure that they are clean.

Overall

A mixed bag in all. They did well setting for One Night Stand but they need to remember that to get pay per view buys you have to get people watching the free weekly shows and to do that you have to put on an entertaining show. So they need to learn to build for PPV’s in a way that is entertaining for the viewers although trying to build for a PPV in two weeks is madness.

WWE Raw Review - 5th May 2008

After last week’s shocking episode of Raw I was hoping to see some clearer direction in tonight’s show and two hours of understandable entertainment.

Good Points

Making the best of the bad situation

After Regal’s crazy moment last week of cutting the Raw feed the WWE have decided to run with the ball on this one. The show turned in to the Regal show as at numerous occasions he would interfere in matches by switching off the lights or changing commentators. From an entertainment point of view it works but from a visual point of view if I was to be channel surfing and I came across raw when it was in darkness I would probably keep on switching. Only problem was that too much time was given to Regal on the show.

Recent returns of legends

Last week Rowdy Roddy Piper made an appearance on Raw backstage which he followed up with another appearance this week which was added to by Trish Stratus featuring in a backstage segment with Trevor Murdoch. It’s great to see legends used in small roles and I think they can continue to add to the shows.

Continuing push for CM Punk

This week on Raw CM Punk got the chance to wrestle Randy Orton to add to his CV of main event stars he has wrestled. He was kept strong as the match went to a no contest after Regal turned the lights off which was good thinking by the creative team.

Bad Points

Who is in the main event for Judgment Day?

If it hadn’t been for the last moment of the show with Randy Orton delivering the RKO on HHH after his main event match teaming with Kennedy against the entire ECW roster I would have had no clue what the main event for Judgment was if I had just tuned in to Raw for the first time. Regal vs. Kennedy should be a great feud but it shouldn’t be pushed ahead of HHH vs. Orton.

Mix of reality in Wrestling

Finally the return of Calirto’s Cabana where this week he interviewed Roddy Piper following the Rowdy one slapping Santino last week on Raw. This was a great idea but poorly executed as Roddy had to bring up Santino’s recent brush with the law. It would have only been the internet wrestling fans that knew about this and the core of WWE’s audience those who don’t log on to internet forums all day would have been left confused so it was silly to bring it up.

Poor handling of Burchill and Katie Lea

With these two now getting a regular spot on Raw the creative team need to give them promo time and put them in to a storyline with someone and not just have them fighting against jobbers or guys who are rarely seen on TV each week.

Overall

A vast improvement from last week but that wasn’t too hard. I may not like the storyline with William Regal but it is good to see WWE committing to it and trying to make it work.

WWE Raw Review - 28th April 2008

After a very entertaining and interesting Backlash I was looking forward to see what the fall out would be on Raw. However little did I know that a disaster in booking and a terrible show awaited me.

Good Points

Kennedy is back and already lined up in a feud

After pushing Regal at the KOTR and then not having him on Backlash, Regal was finally put in to a feud with none other than the returning Mr. Kennedy. I am interested to see where this feud goes as although it is a bit down the card for Kennedy after being pushed in to main event status over the last few months.

New feud for Jericho

Was great to see a new feud started between HBK and Jericho after what happened at Backlash. Jericho claimed that HBK feigned his injury in his match against Batista during his Highlight Reel section. The only problem is where does this leave Batista? Unless we have Batista vs. Undertaker for the fiftieth time there is not much out there for him. Although I’m looking forward to the prospect of another HBK vs. Y2J match after their Wrestlemania classic.

Bad Points

JBL goes from hero to zero

After being in the main event at Backlash JBL this week was booked against one of the Highlanders who haven’t been on Raw for many months. The great consistency in the WWE booking at the moment is great. JBL Booked against a Highlander, Cena nowhere to be seen and no match for CM Punk add to this Cody Rhodes beating Marella and you would start to think they are employing five year olds in the WWE creative department.

Crazy Cade and Murdoch

After their most recent defeat against Kendrik and London Trevor Murdoch took it upon himself to stand on top of the announcers table and sing a song. Murdoch doesn’t have a history of singing so for him to do it with no reason was highly bizarre.

Shoddy camerawork

Some of the camerawork this week resembled some of the live TNA programmes. Don’t who they had on cameras this week but whoever they were it wasn’t the best.

No strong HHH promo

After winning the belt at Backlash many were expecting a strong HHH promo to start his reign as champion but instead of being given the chance to do this he was cut off within a few minutes by Randy Orton and then we barely saw him until he got in the ring for the main event.

Worst ending ever

Randy Orton and HHH gave us a good long match compared to many other Raw main events but was ruined by a Vince Russo WCW booking style ending. For no reason whatsoever William Regal ordered the feed to be shut down during the main event so the show went off to darkness with fans watching at home wondering what was going on. It wasn’t like Regal had been threatening to do something like this for some time or that Regal has a history of psychotic episodes. It was like they had no ideas for the finish so at the last minute someone came up with this hairbrain idea.

Overall

Besides a couple of moments of the light the show was the most unusual mess of a show I have witnessed in some time. Big improvements need to made from this terrible outing.