That being said, I figure it’s fairly obvious I’m going to talk about last night’s edition of RAW. Definitely better than last week’s edition, which had me wishing Nitro was on to flip to during the repeated Smackdown segment. Am I the only one who feels another 'transition' period coming up? What I mean is, similar to part of 1996 and 1997, when the WWF was transforming into it’s current 'attitude' version, and talent was changing frequently, it seems as though the WWF is about to enter another transition. Lots of things that are somewhat up in the air with the WWF right now. Austin has just turned heel and aligned with Triple H. The Rock has left the WWF until mid-summer to film movies. Undertaker and Kane will apparently take on the lead face roles for the company, which is totally new to Kane, and is something Undertaker hasn’t done in years. Hopefully it will lead to a title reign for one, or both of them. The Hardyz have been getting the rub from the top guys. Lots of things are changing. Add to those things the fact that WCW has been bought by the WWF, the fact that the WWF has acquired more new talent in the last year and a half than in the last several years combined, and the fact that Shawn Michaels should soon be returning to the ring, and we have all the ingredients for major changes and some very interesting television. RAW last night had it’s ups and it’s downs to be sure.
Up: Debra slapped Vince McMahon. I don’t like Debra, and I think the divorce angles are about as entertaining as a Ken Shamrock interview (not very). However, just to see a woman slap Vince at the top of the show, I don’t know, I liked it. I guess maybe I was hoping she was REALLY slapping him for such a retarded angle, or for hiring the Big Show.
Down: The Hardcore title match. Nothing wrong with it in theory, but they went straight backstage and did very little while back there. Kane and Richards could have put on a great performance, instead we get the quick run ins and backstage mayhem. If I had been a fan in attendance there, I would have been more than a little irritated that I had to watch this whole match on the Titantron.
Up: Steve Austin. He’s tough, he’s bad, he’s an asshole, and yes folks, he is a heel. Austin is really getting back into his heel character from years past, and I’m loving it. You notice he had toned down somewhat with the language while a face? Now he’s back to calling people sons of bitches and getting bleeped half the time. I love it.
Down: While he did entertain and make an appearance at the end of the show, Stone Cold didn’t lace up and wrestle last night. That was another thing I miss about the heel days back in 96/97, was that he actually wrestled every week. Hopefully we’ll get back to that.
Up: The Kaentai/Big Show situation was almost entertaining, and I liked the APA swerve. Didn’t like the ending of course, but seeing Faarooq and Bradshaw take down Big Ho pleased me.
Down: Man...the PTC is going to be all over this one. The Big Show called Kaentai "gooks". Good lord, use some sense here. I don’t know if that was scripted or not, but that’s going to offend people. I don’t really care personally, but man...that’s going to raise some people’s eyebrows to say the least. Oh yeah, and beyond that, why the hell was Big Ho even talking to begin with? He more than one backstage segment, and each time he spoke. It’s one thing that we have to be subjected to watching this guy "wrestle" (notice the quotation marks), but we have to listen to him talk to?! Please, please, never put a microphone up to that stupid bastard again. And Kevin Kelly, Michael Cole, and anyone else who has ever had to interview the Big Ho, or be within 2 feet of him for that matter, I’m sorry, I can SEE the stench coming off of him, I can only imagine how horrible it must smell. So it seems the Big Ho is campaigning to get on Shane’s good side. Maybe someone has been reading this and they’re going to do the right thing and get the Ho off WWF TV. Shipping him to WCW wouldn’t be my first choice, but it’s good enough.
Up: Triple H is IC champ again. Kane and Undertaker came down for the big save on the Hardyz. Austin and Triple H pounded the Hardyz again, and Austin did his little heel look of, "hey boy, I backed down, but I might not next time" as he was walking up the ramp. I love that look. The whole ending to the night was really cool.
Down: The Hardyz on the mic. Uggh. They can fly, and somewhat wrestle, but not talk, please.
I know I didn’t cover the whole show, I’ll wait for the feedback before I decide to start doing that (or not), but I hit the highlights (and lowlights), so email me and let me know what you think about the grading idea
Until next time...
