Monday Night Raw - 6/7

[Mac Daddy]

Unknown has yet to arrive and open a thread, so here it is. Monday Night Raw – Edition Jun. 7


*Disclaimer: if you're looking for a detailed report - go elsewhere. This isn't it.

In the opening match, Lita defeated Gail Kim after planting Kim with a thunderous DDT. This lead to the singles between Gail Kim and Victoria scheduled for Bad Blood being changed to a Fatal-Four-Way match between Victoria, Gail Kim, Lita, and Trish Stratus (since she beat Lita a couple of weeks ago). I was all over the idea of Victoria and Gail Kim at Bad Blood in a singles match, but a 4 way dance is even better. I know the divas will satisfy with a decent bout. Quite frankly, it’s amazing to see that the WWE cares about his Women’s division more than the Cruiserweight division when they have more talent in the CW division. I guess it’s the Smackdown writers, I don’t know.


Backstage, Eric Bischoff is with Coach and Johnny Nitro. Eric Bischoff tells Coach, who is undefeated at PPVs, and Eugene, who is undefeated period, will face at Bad Blood. Nitro begins laughing and tells Bischoff that Eugene will beat Coach at Bad Blood, and Eric’ll have all the same look on his face from last week’s episode. Eric doesn’t think it’s very funny and he signs a match for Raw: Eugene vs. Johnny Nitro, and if Nitro loses, he’s fired! Later that night, Eugene beats Nitro of course. So there’ll be a Eugene/Coach match at Bad Blood; the equivalent to Backlash’s Tajiri vs. Coach match. I don’t see the need for these comedic matches at the Raw PPVs. It would have been smarter to have a Regal/Eugene vs. Coach/Garrison Cade match, but even the Raw bookers have to intentionally screw up every once and a while.


The next match is Batista vs. Shelton Benjamin. Thanks to distractions from Randy Orton and Nache, Batista picks up the win. Afterwards, Randy Orton, Batista, and Flair gang Benjamin and Orton hits him in the head with the IC title. You know, I realized something on Raw: Shelton Benjamin isn’t over! He’s not. This guy has beaten Triple H (twice), Ric Flair, and Randy Orton and he isn’t over. It was mostly quiet when he came out. I think I knew it all along, but I didn’t want to face it since he has so much skill and potential. But no, Shelton isn’t over yet. I am impressed with the WWE’s building of the Orton/Benjamin feud. Last night, it seemed these two were feuding over the World Heavyweight title rather than IC gold. This is a good move by the WWE, and I hope Bad Blood isn’t the end.


The next match was Chris Jericho, bruised ribs and all, against A-Train. Before the break, Bischoff had given Trish Stratus and Tyson what they wanted: a match with Jericho at Bad Blood. I paid attention to this match, and as always, I enjoyed Albert’s work. You know this guy is criticized so much, and it’s only gotten worse since October of last year as I can remember. People believed that it should have been Rhyno, instead of Albert that faced Benoit at No Mercy. That may be true, but Albert did deserve the position even though Rhyno deserved it more. Getting over my digression and back to the topic at hand, I enjoyed A-Train’s match with Chris Jericho, and on a side note, I wish Jericho would use his old version of the Walls of Jericho. Good match and I’m looking forward to Bad Blood so the WWE can end the angle between Jericho and Trish.


The next match is Kane/La Resistance vs. Chris Benoit/Edge. Before this, Benoit was scheduled to take on La Resistance in a handicap match, but it got out of hand and Bischoff came out and added Kane and Edge to the mix. Very nice match and Kane pinned Benoit in a clean decision. Bischoff also announced that Benoit and Edge would team at Bad Blood to take on La Resistance for the Tag titles. So Benoit’s doing double-time at the PPV. Boy, talk about a real, over, and fighting champion. Chris Benoit is the best World champ since the title came back in Sept. 2002. It’s nice to see Kane looking strong with a pin fall over the champion. It’s also nice to see that we will be seeing a Benoit/Edge feud in the very near future.


Backstage, Lita is talking to Matt Hardy on her cell. She hangs up and Kane approaches her. Kane tells Lita that it was he that got her added to the Women’s title match at Bad Blood, and after Sunday, both of them “will be Champions.” Lita tells Kane she thought it was over, but Kane replied after a long pause, “I lied.” Nice segment; looking forward to Kane/Matt/Lita story; great, great acting by Glen Jacobs.


The main-event: Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton. This my friends, is quality booking. These two men have faced four times now and each time it happens, they get more and more relaxed and used to each other. Very nice match, but it would have been nice for Shawn to actually win the match, and then destroy Batista and Orton. After laying out Orton and Batista, Shawn got over the barricade (after decking a “security personnel”) and went up the stairs to HHH’s skybox. Hunter deployed Flair, but of course, he got knocked out. This reminded me of some cheesy action movie, and Hunter’s the villain and has deployed his goons. Shawn made it up the box and he and HHH brawled until the show went off the air. Nicely done, and I can say is I’m looking forward to the match at Bad Blood. Hopefully the feud will end with that.

[Chazz]

Here are my thoughts on last nights Raw.

Good:

Batista vs. Benjamin: funny how the first person in Evolution to beat Benjamin turned out to be Batista. I don't know if that is a good thing for Dave, because Shelton just has not connected with the fans. I like the guy and he has tremendous potential, but for some reason the fans have not developed a liking for him. It was a good match, but the ending was really good. Orton, Dave and Flair ganging up on a helpless Benjamin only made this feud even better. Dave looks to be finally settled in on Raw, and he looks comfortable in the ring. That's good to see cause now I think he is ready for a good feud to help establish himself.

Kane: Kane owned last nights show, and he needed to. I have not liked the amount of buildup that creative has given to the title match at Bad Blood. It has been little to none, while the HBK/HHH match has been given one hellacious buildup. Kane made the title match matter last night by pinning Benoit, but more importantly by selling that he is a monster to be dealt with. I think it's obvious that Kane won't win at Bad Blood, but at least he made his presence felt.

Eugene: The fans love him, and the gimmick seems to be working. I have to commend Nick for doing this, because he has made the most of it. What you saw last night from him was a tremendous talent, who has mixed the goofiness of the character Eugene with the technical skills that really made Dinsmore a favorite in OVW. I'm not too crazy about the Eugene/Coach match, but it could be very entertaining.

Orton vs. HBK: A good match that ended how I figured; which was with HHH and HBK coming to fist-a-cuffs. The buildup to there match at BB has been more than enough than it actually needed. I can only hope that this is actually the fianl encounter between the two for a long time.


Bad:

Lita vs. Gail Kim: I just don't understand why Lita pinned Kim last night. For the past few weeks, creative had done an excellent job in building up Kim as a top number one contender. Lita pinning Gail last night shot all that work down the tubes. So, now we have a fatal-four way dance. That sounds good, but I was really looking forward to Victoria vs. Gail Kim because I felt the two of them would have a great match. I think the WWE dropped the ball on this one.

Jericho vs. A-Train: Instead of Jericho facing Train, it should have been Tomko. I mean, we have yet to see this guy wrestle, and he is on the card at Bad Blood against someone with the credability that Jericho has. It's obvious that Chris will win at BB because of how he has the "guy who is fighting through the pain to beat the bigger man" label on him. The only reason Tomko has any heat is because he is with Trish.

Nitro vs. Eugene: either Nitro just wasn't cutting the mustard, or the WWE will find a way to keep him as EB's apprentice. Whatever the case, this match made no sense at all for Nitro to lose. I mean, the guy hasn't been given the chance to do anything, and he was put in match he had to win. Terrible idea.

The show was okay. It just never really got going from the start, which can be blamed on Stacy Kiebler. Now, Stacy is great to look at, but that was not neccessary to have her open Raw. Overall, the show did little to make Bad Blood matter outside the HHH/HBK match. I'd give it a 5/10 which is bad considering how good the shows have been lately.

[Unknown]

Sorry for not coming earlier...you did a good job though as did Chazz. Here's what I'll add.

The opening segment with Stacy was fair for what it was. I just don't like the idea of this whole diva search contest thing. Coincidentially, Raw has dropped in quality a bit (not that much) since this was announced. The show has been consistently solid for the past two months but the past few weeks didn't feature that same booking. That always seems to happen around PPV time which is understandable but at the same time they can promote TV matches and book feuds for weeks instead of the usual rushing of the matches leading into the show. Anyways, as I was saying the diva search idea IMO is stupid. They’re paying someone 250,000 (yeah I’m sure the boys in the back with lower downside guarantees are happy about this) and they’re basically going to do nothing. Well, hopefully this is the last we have to hear about it on Raw as they have done nothing to glorify what a WWE diva is other than the prize money. The match with Gail and Lita was a pretty good woman’s match that Gail carried for the most part. Lita seems pretty uncomfortable in the ring these days. I don’t think she is on the level with the Raw divas of today. Maybe they should send her over to OVW for a little more polishing because she just isn’t cutting it. As for the match I questioned why they’d have Lita win when she was going against Victoria on Sunday but I guess the explanation later on was why. It was strange that Victoria wasn’t featured seeing as she is the Woman’s champion.

I agree with you McMahon on Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin isn’t as over with the crowd as he should be right now. Sadly, he looked like Maven skipping down to the ring last night. That is a really bad sign. He is in serious need of new entrance music as that music isn’t the type of music to get the crowd hyped and it doesn’t suit his character. That along with him not having enough time on the mic is the reason he isn’t as over as he should be. I don’t blame it on him though. Hopefully, he’ll be more of a vicious character following the beatdown on Monday as I feel that it is too early in his career for him to be running around so laid back. That will show his hunger more. I am looking forward to the match at Bad Blood. My only quirk is the way they handled the booking of the feud last night. They had Batista on the offense for most of the matchup and they gave him the win. I would have rather of seen Benjamin defying the odds throughout the whole matchup, which would then cause Evolution to help Batista seeing as he is the #1 contender for the IC belt but that wasn’t the case. If the feud does continue past Sunday (which I am hoping for) they should have put Benjamin over for the most part last night. I will say that Orton did look like a true champ during the segment though.

I liked the Jericho match with A-Train but I wish they could have used a backstage segment or interview to hype this and all of the rest of the matches. They could have had someone interviewing A-Train about his first match on Raw since the draft maybe building some kind of heat going into the match. Hmm, this is what made Raw so good in the past few months so why throw matches together now?

The only other thing I have to add is the booking of the World title. Last night they tried to do a hard sell to build some heat for the feud but it didn’t work. These men should have been in each other’s faces like HBK and HHH. Both men seemed to be involved in angles with other people, which is why this feud is so off. Maybe after Bad Blood, they can go back to their primary angles (Benoit/Edge and Kane/Lita/Matt). The World title just hasn’t received the recognition it deserves. Hopefully this will change after Bad Blood.

Bad Blood which was a PPV which I thought would put the WWE back where it once was is now not as interesting. They have been building the PPV for a few weeks then they decided to wait until the last minute once again and book matchups. Raw has been on such a roll lately but the WWE really needs to book their PPV feuds and the shows leading into the PPV better. As good as Raw has been that should have been no problem. Hopefully this will be fixed next month because that has brought down the quality on a show that was nearly flawless for the past few weeks..

[MISFIT]

Hey guys!

I honestly thought the best part of RAW last night was HHH's promo. I've always been one to take the guy down a few notches, but damn, did he deliver last night by just picking up the stick. That one single promo, along with the video package they aired was enough to get me psyched up for Bad Blood, and especially HIAC.

I might actually watch the PPV on Sunday...

[WordLife]

Here is my analysis on last nights Raw.
The good matches
Batista vs. Benjamin: This was a good match seeing Shelton Benjamin lose his first match on Raw, I believe. I cannot believe it was to Batista though. This guy is going to go no where in his career if he doesn't do more than 3 moves in a match. I have no clue as to why Benjamin hasn't connected with the fans yet. He may need to change his ring attire and talk on the mic a little more, and he may get over with the fans. I give this match a 6/10.
Kane: He was great last night, it looks like the Kane/Lita storyline is going to continue after Bad Blood, atleast this will give Matt Hardy some TV time. I hope he doesn't get squashed if him and Kane have a match. I see the Kane and Lita angle going all the way to Summerslam, with the rumors of Jeff wrestling at Summerslam could he get involved? I think that the Kane and Benoit match at Bad Blood is going to suck. First off it has had hardly an buildup and they have had 2 confrontations. Second of all Kane does about 5 moves in a match, in order for this to be a good match Benoit will have to carry Kane.
Diva Search: This whole diva search thing isn't to blame for the ratings I don't thnk, it was just a mistake by WWE to start off the show with Stacy coming out and plugging it. That more than likely made a bunch of viewers tune out, thus hurting the ratings.
La Resistance and Kane vs. Benoit and Edge: This was a good match until Edge ran out and helped Benoit then Bischoff ended up making it 3 on 2 and added Kane so him and Benoit could build for the PPV. This match was just used to build for the Kane/Benoit match and for the tag title match at Bad Blood.
Orton vs. HBK: This was an awesome match, Orton showed that he truly deserves a Main Event push. This guy rarely messes up in the ring and his match with HBK was spectacular. HBK still has it left in him and it was a great way to end Raw, with him laying out all of Evolution. I can't wait for the Hell In A Cell match.
The Bad Matches:
Jericho vs. A Train: Whenever I heard A Train's music hit I knew that this match was going to be ugly. This guy has no talent whatsoever and uses about 5 moves during a match. This match was just used to get Jericho over before the PPV. This Jericho/Tomko match is going to suck really bad. From what I have heard, Tomko is nothing special in the ring. Jericho will have to carry him in this match.
Eugene vs. Nitro: This Eugene gimmick is really working, he is really over with the fans, and he is hilarious to watch. Seeing him mimmick the Junkyard Dog last night was priceless. What I don't understand is Nitro has never wrestled in a match on Raw before and he gets put in a match with Eugene and if he loses he gets fired? This will probably lead to a Nitro/Eugene feud in the future. With the announcement of the Coach/Eugene match I couldn't believe it, why would you let Coach wrestle Eugene when you could use some other great talent to wrestle Eugene?

Overall I would give Raw a 7/10. It was entertaining and had a few great matches, but there was hardly any build up for Bad Blood.

[TDC]

Yeah the HHH hell in a cell history was sweet! I'd actually forgotten some of those matches and didn't realise that HHH has been in so many of those matches. Question Who has been in the most Hell in a cell matches then ?

[Mac Daddy]

The Bad Matches:
Jericho vs. A Train: Whenever I heard A Train's music hit I knew that this match was going to be ugly. This guy has no talent whatsoever and uses about 5 moves during a match. This match was just used to get Jericho over before the PPV. This Jericho/Tomko match is going to suck really bad. From what I have heard, Tomko is nothing special in the ring. Jericho will have to carry him in this match.


What else could Albert have done? It was a pretty standard 5-min match. Honestly, the same old A-Train bashing is getting to be overrated and just plain harsh.

[KusToM KnucKs]

Yeah the HHH hell in a cell history was sweet! I'd actually forgotten some of those matches and didn't realise that HHH has been in so many of those matches. Question Who has been in the most Hell in a cell matches then ?

Undertaker has been in 5 HIAC's so id say that is the record

As for Raw i didnt really think it was all to great of a show going into a PPV. It wasnt to interesting at all as far as im concerned so the PPV lead up could have been better. Then again i didnt watch most of the matches at all I only seen about half of the main event. IMO Raw is getting nearly as bad as Smackdown

[Unknown]

I wouldn't go that far. Raw hasn't been as good for the past 3 weeks as it was before but they can always fix that going into Vengeance. I expected this week's Raw to be a drop because of the last minute booking. If they would announce all PPV matches 2 weeks before the PPV they wouldn't have to worry about the drop in quality that goes with last second booking. As for SD, the show was much better than it's been in recent memory. All it needs is to get Big Show back, to bring Rhyno over, bring Chuck Palumo over and reform the FBI, and just make their divisions credible again. They have the tools to make SD good but they're not using them. I still question why they'd fire Heyman as head booker when the shows were great week after week. Not that logic is a factor in the decisions of the WWE anyways...