Post by MGH on Jan 2, 2007 14:17:14 GMT -5
WWE CELEBRATES THE NEW YEAR BY DROPPING THE BALL ON RAW
by Buck Woodward @ 1:46:00 PM on 1/2/2007
I should have known better. I was actually looking forward to Raw last night, which was probably my first mistake. WWE had a short break from producing storyline driven shows, so I thought WWE Creative might come up with something special to kick off the new year. I was wrong. There is a PPV this Sunday, so I expected a lot of interesting angles and matches to build up the card that WWE wants me to shell out $40 for. I was wrong. WWE had the big John Cena vs. Kevin Federline match, one that they have been hyping up for months on end, and will no doubt be covered by numerous media outlets that haven't paid attention to wrestling since Stacy Keibler was on Dancing With The Stars. Surely, WWE came up with something unique to capitalize on the mainstream press, something that would help elevate John Cena and WWE in the eyes of those who were tuning in to see Britney's ex? Nope. Last night was an uninspired show, with very little action or excitement, and quickly sent the message to regular viewers that the year may have changed, but everything else remains the same.
I'll get to show thoughts in a moment, but I have one more rant I need to get off my chest. This Sunday, Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro will have a steel cage match for the Intercontinental Title at New Year's Revolution. This is a feud that has been going on for several months now, and has produced some of the best matches on WWE programming lately. Nitro is a frontrunner for Most Improved Wrestling Of The Year, while Hardy is battling with Fit Finlay for Comeback Of The Year honors. Fans love Hardy, and Nitro has been getting the secondary rub off of the Cena-Federline feud. At the last WWE PPV, Johnny Nitro's partner, Joey Mercury, had his face mangled by a ladder after Jeff Hardy jumped on it to set up a "see-saw" spot. So, what happened last night to set up this big match? NOTHING. Jeff Hardy was a background player in a match that was set up so Vince McMahon could have mic time. Nitro was the bumping machine that got tossed around by John Cena in the Federline segments. No promo from Nitro about wanting his belt back, or wanting to get revenge for Mercury. No interview from Mercury (ala the one he gave on Smackdown) about how Jeff mangled his face and he wanted Nitro to do the same to Jeff in the cage. Nope, not even a video package about the history and animosity between the two men who have been feuding for months (and stealing the show more often than not). WWE totally dropped the ball on this one, but I guess we shouldn't be surprised, since they seemed to be dropping balls all night on the show.
Onto my thoughts on the show:
I wasn't surprised that WWE dragged out the Cena-Federline bit as long as they did, but I was very disappointed in the execution of the segment. A lot of people have pointed out that they were going for the Andy Kaufman-Jerry Lawler bit, except that Federline isn't anywhere near as charismatic as Kaufman was. On top of that, Cena looked more annoyed than bemused during the various spots they did, so you never got the impression that Cena was "toying with him" as the announcers tried to put over. If Cena posed like Hulk Hogan after breaking out of Federline's moves, that would have been a lot funnier. After their dull tribute to the classic Memphis angle, we had a big Johnny Nitro bump, K-Fed kicking Cena in the rear end (how do you miss a groin kick?), and Umaga attacking Cena. At least they remembered to set up the PPV main event. However, when they went right to commercial, it pretty much told anyone who was tuning in for Federline to change the channel.
We then had Maria, who wasn't portraying her usual loveable character at all, getting slapped my Melina and challenged to a match. When Jim Ross asked "What the hell is going on here" twenty minutes into the show, I agreed with him (and not in the way he intended). This was followed by the revelation that John Cena would face Nitro, Umaga, Armando and Coach at the end of the show. Gee, the "babyface is booked against overwhelming odds" bit? Never seen that one before. The fact that no mention was made of K-Fed accompanying the heels or coming out for the match blew my mind. Did WWE want the casual observers tuning in for Federline to go away? Why wouldn't you make it clear that K-Fed would be back later?
After all this frustration, we then had a real match ... sort of. It was a meaningless four way tag match, and I guess I should just be happy that there are tag teams on Raw, period. The crowd was dead for it until the end, when bodies were flying over the top rope. I'd much rather have seen two of the four teams going at it in a regular match if WWE was only going to give them a short amount of time. Having four teams in there only prevented any of them from really getting over with the crowd, and none of these men have an announced match on the PPV this Sunday.
Aren't the clips of Wrestlemania 3 still amazing to watch, just because of the magnitude of the event? I have to say, I do like the way they start the build to Wrestlemania now, and give it that "Superbowl" vibe that it is more important than all the other PPV events.
So, Rob Conway tells us that he is going to quit Raw if he loses, and his serious statement was immediately followed by his cheesy piano entrance music. Not that it mattered (or anyone cared), as Jeff "Wow, I got an easy night" Hardy beat him quick, then took off so Vince McMahon could fire Rob. Of course, it is much more important for Vince to have his time in the spotlight than, oh, I don't know, put over Hardy's cage match on Sunday, isn't it? Anyway, Vince had his ego moment making fun of Rosie and informing us that Trump took his catchphrase (which he did), then he fired Conway. Another "whatever" segment that did nothing to set up the PPV on Sunday.
I thought Kenny Dykstra was good on the mic, even thought he still looks goofy with the headband on. His "death comes in fours" line was a bit lame, considering he was bunching together two famous men passing away, an execution and a wrestling career. Still, I was glad to see him get a chance to speak, since the only way fans will begin to care about new talent is if they get a chance to know them.
WWE does a great job putting together their recap packages, and probably don't get enough credit for the production values. However, we were an hour into Raw at this point, and I had seen more wrestling during the post-Holiday sales at the mall the other day.
DX then came to the ring, and I was hoping Edge & Orton would be hitting the ring for a nice pre-PPV brawl. Nope. Just a very long promo, most of which was good, but it really just dragged on for me. When it ended without Edge & Orton appearing, I really wondered what the point was. To let us know DX doesn't like them? The bloody footage in the recaps made that point by itself. Still, it at least had something to do with the PPV on Sunday, and I'm sure a lot of people in Orlando will be wondering if Shawn's "curtain jerker" comment was directed at them.
I was thrilled to see Victoria come out, if only because there was a chance we might see her beat the crap out of someone and insert some action into the show. Instead, she joined the announcers, and just came off as stiff and unnatural in her commentary. Her points were valid, but her delivery just wasn't there. As for the Maria-Melina match, the finish looked horrid, as the rollup got botched, then they went right to another rollup, which looked totally lame. Then, my hopes of Victoria adding some excitement were botched when she went after Lilian Garcia, which made ZERO storyline sense. Victoria's character in recent weeks has been about eliminating the Divas who have taken what she feels is "her spot" on the shows. She wants to destroy the "pretty girls" who get title shots ahead of her. Lilian doesn't wrestle. She isn't taking Victoria's spot. It made no sense, other than to give the fans a cheap pop of seeing up Lilian's skirt. At least Mickie James made the save and there was some connection to the PPV match made.
We then had the only decent match (in terms of action and length) on the show, with Ric Flair & Carlito vs. Chris Masters & Kenny Dykstra. Was there a Lethal Lottery to put together this bout? Why were these guys teaming? Oh, right, there's a PPV Sunday, and they have matches on it, so they needed to be crammed into Raw somewhere. At least the crowd was into Flair, and we had a okay match. Dykstra got the pin on Flair to keep their issue going, while Carlito and Masters brawled to the back so Flair could be left alone. Of course, we all knew Edge & Orton would then attack Flair and then DX would .... um, nope, no DX. Edge & Orton set up Flair for the Conchairto, and DX then ... nope. Flair was given the Conchairto and Rated RKO left, and there was no DX at all. DX must have been previously attacked, and they were laid out in the back.... nope. DX left the building. See, being veterans of the ring, Triple H & Shawn Michaels BELIEVED that Edge & Orton weren't going to be at Raw. Hey, they would never lie, right? So, DX left, despite their love of Ric Flair, and the Nature Boy got a Concharito. Don't worry about Flair though, since he took a much worse beating and was back in two weeks. That single Conchairto should only have him hurting until Sunday at the latest. You know, it used to be that the level of violence and intensity got greater the closer we got to a PPV. Now it seems to go in reverse.
Then they ran down the card for the PPV, probably surprising a lot of viewers that there even is a PPV on Sunday.
Hey look, it is Kevin Federline again! You'd think WWE would have mentioned he would be back out, so those that were tuning in to see him get dropped on his head would have stuck around. Anyway, at least the guy has found temporary employment here in WWE as his fifteen minutes runs out.
As for the "main event", Nitro was the big bumper, and we saw that Cena could handle him, Umaga, Estrada and Coach pretty easily. We had the lame DQ finish for the use of the chair, and Umaga showed he could take some big shots to the head, but it wasn't the impressive moment WWE probably was hoping for. Cena sent the live crowd home happy with Coach and Nitro (remember, guy in a big cage match Sunday) getting the FU, then the big moment of Federline getting the FU took place. Those that stayed tuned in for the whole show just to see that should be happy. As for me, I was left wondering what happened to that storyline that Umaga and Cena wouldn't be allowed to touch until New Year's Revolution. The company should have ran with that, instead of making it just another "disposable angle" in the storyline.
K-Fed pinned Cena. Cena dropped K-Fed on his head. There's a PPV Sunday that WWE dropped the ball in hyping. In a nutshell, that was the first Raw of 2007.
-PWInsider.com
by Buck Woodward @ 1:46:00 PM on 1/2/2007
I should have known better. I was actually looking forward to Raw last night, which was probably my first mistake. WWE had a short break from producing storyline driven shows, so I thought WWE Creative might come up with something special to kick off the new year. I was wrong. There is a PPV this Sunday, so I expected a lot of interesting angles and matches to build up the card that WWE wants me to shell out $40 for. I was wrong. WWE had the big John Cena vs. Kevin Federline match, one that they have been hyping up for months on end, and will no doubt be covered by numerous media outlets that haven't paid attention to wrestling since Stacy Keibler was on Dancing With The Stars. Surely, WWE came up with something unique to capitalize on the mainstream press, something that would help elevate John Cena and WWE in the eyes of those who were tuning in to see Britney's ex? Nope. Last night was an uninspired show, with very little action or excitement, and quickly sent the message to regular viewers that the year may have changed, but everything else remains the same.
I'll get to show thoughts in a moment, but I have one more rant I need to get off my chest. This Sunday, Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro will have a steel cage match for the Intercontinental Title at New Year's Revolution. This is a feud that has been going on for several months now, and has produced some of the best matches on WWE programming lately. Nitro is a frontrunner for Most Improved Wrestling Of The Year, while Hardy is battling with Fit Finlay for Comeback Of The Year honors. Fans love Hardy, and Nitro has been getting the secondary rub off of the Cena-Federline feud. At the last WWE PPV, Johnny Nitro's partner, Joey Mercury, had his face mangled by a ladder after Jeff Hardy jumped on it to set up a "see-saw" spot. So, what happened last night to set up this big match? NOTHING. Jeff Hardy was a background player in a match that was set up so Vince McMahon could have mic time. Nitro was the bumping machine that got tossed around by John Cena in the Federline segments. No promo from Nitro about wanting his belt back, or wanting to get revenge for Mercury. No interview from Mercury (ala the one he gave on Smackdown) about how Jeff mangled his face and he wanted Nitro to do the same to Jeff in the cage. Nope, not even a video package about the history and animosity between the two men who have been feuding for months (and stealing the show more often than not). WWE totally dropped the ball on this one, but I guess we shouldn't be surprised, since they seemed to be dropping balls all night on the show.
Onto my thoughts on the show:
I wasn't surprised that WWE dragged out the Cena-Federline bit as long as they did, but I was very disappointed in the execution of the segment. A lot of people have pointed out that they were going for the Andy Kaufman-Jerry Lawler bit, except that Federline isn't anywhere near as charismatic as Kaufman was. On top of that, Cena looked more annoyed than bemused during the various spots they did, so you never got the impression that Cena was "toying with him" as the announcers tried to put over. If Cena posed like Hulk Hogan after breaking out of Federline's moves, that would have been a lot funnier. After their dull tribute to the classic Memphis angle, we had a big Johnny Nitro bump, K-Fed kicking Cena in the rear end (how do you miss a groin kick?), and Umaga attacking Cena. At least they remembered to set up the PPV main event. However, when they went right to commercial, it pretty much told anyone who was tuning in for Federline to change the channel.
We then had Maria, who wasn't portraying her usual loveable character at all, getting slapped my Melina and challenged to a match. When Jim Ross asked "What the hell is going on here" twenty minutes into the show, I agreed with him (and not in the way he intended). This was followed by the revelation that John Cena would face Nitro, Umaga, Armando and Coach at the end of the show. Gee, the "babyface is booked against overwhelming odds" bit? Never seen that one before. The fact that no mention was made of K-Fed accompanying the heels or coming out for the match blew my mind. Did WWE want the casual observers tuning in for Federline to go away? Why wouldn't you make it clear that K-Fed would be back later?
After all this frustration, we then had a real match ... sort of. It was a meaningless four way tag match, and I guess I should just be happy that there are tag teams on Raw, period. The crowd was dead for it until the end, when bodies were flying over the top rope. I'd much rather have seen two of the four teams going at it in a regular match if WWE was only going to give them a short amount of time. Having four teams in there only prevented any of them from really getting over with the crowd, and none of these men have an announced match on the PPV this Sunday.
Aren't the clips of Wrestlemania 3 still amazing to watch, just because of the magnitude of the event? I have to say, I do like the way they start the build to Wrestlemania now, and give it that "Superbowl" vibe that it is more important than all the other PPV events.
So, Rob Conway tells us that he is going to quit Raw if he loses, and his serious statement was immediately followed by his cheesy piano entrance music. Not that it mattered (or anyone cared), as Jeff "Wow, I got an easy night" Hardy beat him quick, then took off so Vince McMahon could fire Rob. Of course, it is much more important for Vince to have his time in the spotlight than, oh, I don't know, put over Hardy's cage match on Sunday, isn't it? Anyway, Vince had his ego moment making fun of Rosie and informing us that Trump took his catchphrase (which he did), then he fired Conway. Another "whatever" segment that did nothing to set up the PPV on Sunday.
I thought Kenny Dykstra was good on the mic, even thought he still looks goofy with the headband on. His "death comes in fours" line was a bit lame, considering he was bunching together two famous men passing away, an execution and a wrestling career. Still, I was glad to see him get a chance to speak, since the only way fans will begin to care about new talent is if they get a chance to know them.
WWE does a great job putting together their recap packages, and probably don't get enough credit for the production values. However, we were an hour into Raw at this point, and I had seen more wrestling during the post-Holiday sales at the mall the other day.
DX then came to the ring, and I was hoping Edge & Orton would be hitting the ring for a nice pre-PPV brawl. Nope. Just a very long promo, most of which was good, but it really just dragged on for me. When it ended without Edge & Orton appearing, I really wondered what the point was. To let us know DX doesn't like them? The bloody footage in the recaps made that point by itself. Still, it at least had something to do with the PPV on Sunday, and I'm sure a lot of people in Orlando will be wondering if Shawn's "curtain jerker" comment was directed at them.
I was thrilled to see Victoria come out, if only because there was a chance we might see her beat the crap out of someone and insert some action into the show. Instead, she joined the announcers, and just came off as stiff and unnatural in her commentary. Her points were valid, but her delivery just wasn't there. As for the Maria-Melina match, the finish looked horrid, as the rollup got botched, then they went right to another rollup, which looked totally lame. Then, my hopes of Victoria adding some excitement were botched when she went after Lilian Garcia, which made ZERO storyline sense. Victoria's character in recent weeks has been about eliminating the Divas who have taken what she feels is "her spot" on the shows. She wants to destroy the "pretty girls" who get title shots ahead of her. Lilian doesn't wrestle. She isn't taking Victoria's spot. It made no sense, other than to give the fans a cheap pop of seeing up Lilian's skirt. At least Mickie James made the save and there was some connection to the PPV match made.
We then had the only decent match (in terms of action and length) on the show, with Ric Flair & Carlito vs. Chris Masters & Kenny Dykstra. Was there a Lethal Lottery to put together this bout? Why were these guys teaming? Oh, right, there's a PPV Sunday, and they have matches on it, so they needed to be crammed into Raw somewhere. At least the crowd was into Flair, and we had a okay match. Dykstra got the pin on Flair to keep their issue going, while Carlito and Masters brawled to the back so Flair could be left alone. Of course, we all knew Edge & Orton would then attack Flair and then DX would .... um, nope, no DX. Edge & Orton set up Flair for the Conchairto, and DX then ... nope. Flair was given the Conchairto and Rated RKO left, and there was no DX at all. DX must have been previously attacked, and they were laid out in the back.... nope. DX left the building. See, being veterans of the ring, Triple H & Shawn Michaels BELIEVED that Edge & Orton weren't going to be at Raw. Hey, they would never lie, right? So, DX left, despite their love of Ric Flair, and the Nature Boy got a Concharito. Don't worry about Flair though, since he took a much worse beating and was back in two weeks. That single Conchairto should only have him hurting until Sunday at the latest. You know, it used to be that the level of violence and intensity got greater the closer we got to a PPV. Now it seems to go in reverse.
Then they ran down the card for the PPV, probably surprising a lot of viewers that there even is a PPV on Sunday.
Hey look, it is Kevin Federline again! You'd think WWE would have mentioned he would be back out, so those that were tuning in to see him get dropped on his head would have stuck around. Anyway, at least the guy has found temporary employment here in WWE as his fifteen minutes runs out.
As for the "main event", Nitro was the big bumper, and we saw that Cena could handle him, Umaga, Estrada and Coach pretty easily. We had the lame DQ finish for the use of the chair, and Umaga showed he could take some big shots to the head, but it wasn't the impressive moment WWE probably was hoping for. Cena sent the live crowd home happy with Coach and Nitro (remember, guy in a big cage match Sunday) getting the FU, then the big moment of Federline getting the FU took place. Those that stayed tuned in for the whole show just to see that should be happy. As for me, I was left wondering what happened to that storyline that Umaga and Cena wouldn't be allowed to touch until New Year's Revolution. The company should have ran with that, instead of making it just another "disposable angle" in the storyline.
K-Fed pinned Cena. Cena dropped K-Fed on his head. There's a PPV Sunday that WWE dropped the ball in hyping. In a nutshell, that was the first Raw of 2007.
-PWInsider.com
helped $lim jinx NXT. Woops
