Monday Night RAW Recap

LOOKING AT A 'CAN WE PUT MORE STIPULATIONS INTO THE MAIN EVENT STORYLINE?' EDITION OF RAW
by Buck Woodward @ 2009-04-14 12:54:14

Three hours is a long time for a RAW, and because I watched the show in "real time" as opposed to DVRing and fast forwarding through commercials, I felt every moment of the three hours. That said, there was some good action, since a majority of the bouts were just random "wrestling matches" put together to set up draft picks. As for the main event storyline, well, it is totally logic defying, unless you think people in real life who get along would fight each other for "first shot" at a person they all hate.

Now that the draft is out the way, it will be interesting to see what WWE does to set up the undercard for Backlash.

Here's my thoughts on the show, as it happened.

I was glad to see them bring back the battle royal idea to give away two draft picks, but seriously, John Cena vs. Jack Swagger? Why not give Raw two draft picks at the top of the show and get it over with?

Batista hits the ring for his first promo, and boy, he wasn't kidding when he said he missed the fans more than they missed him. After the initial pop, it wasn't exactly an outpouring of emotion for Big Dave. Batista cut a decent promo, calling out Orton, and for a brief moment, I thought we really were going to see him go to the back and beat up everyone he encountered on his search for Rany. Instead, Shane McMahon comes out to argue with Batista over who gets to beat up Orton first. To the shock of no one, Triple H joins the discussion. Hey, here's a thought? Why don't the three of them go to the back, walk in separate directions, and the first person to find Orton gets to beat him up?

Thankfully, Vickie Guerrero breaks up the discussion group and ... makes a three-on-two handicap match to determine who will face Orton? Huh? The Executive Vice President and WWE Champion need to win a handicap match to get a bout they want? Shouldn't Triple H just be able to say "Hey Orton, want a title shot?" and get his singes match? Plus, what did Cody and Ted do to deserve being put in a handicap match? For such a long segment, you would think things would be less convoluted.

The draft matches began with the "dream match" of Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne. As expected, there were some cool spots, like Rey's drop toe hold into the security wall and Bourne countering the springboard with a spin kick. I also liked the way the ECW and Raw announce teams called this match, and the announcers were determined by the participants in the bout. The only thing I didn't like about the match was that Mysterio beat Bourne the way he beats everyone else. It would have been nice to have a "counter move" kind of finish to give Bourne a bit more of a rub.

MVP gets drafted to Raw, and is bringing the U.S. Title with him. He might want to turn heel again, as there's a lot of babyface talent above him on the roster.

Kane squashes Brian Kendrick and takes down Ezekiel with one kick. What was the point of that? To squash the promising heels on Smackdown before taking away one of their top ones? Because right after the match, that is what happened with Big Show being moved to Raw. At least Show will still be around Vickie Guerrero. Or have we dropped that storyline?

Randy Orton walks into Vickie Guerrero's office, upset that Vickie is a better heel than he is. Orton wants a title shot, but instead is told (pay attention) that if Rhodes & DiBiase (two men) can beat Triple H, Shane McMahon & Batista (three men) in the handicap match, then Legacy gets a three-on-one handicap match next week against whoever is pinned (who presumably would be the weak link of the team). And Orton, apparently, is okay with that! Yeah, I can see where a three-on-one is just as good as a title shot ... not. Especially since Legacy can just jump people whenever they want, you know, like they did in the weeks leading to Wrestlemania!

John Cena and Jack Swagger discuss the redundancy of being called the "All American American." Cena eventually switched to "serious promo mode" and at this point I was thinking nothing short of an Edge run-in was going to save Swagger.

A tag match with Smackdown Divas who don't get along being forced to work together? What a novel concept! At least Michelle McCool and Maryse argued this time. Why are the Divas standing in adjacent corners instead of opposite ones? Not that it mattered, as this was the latest Raw Diva tag match to not feature any actual tags, as Mickie James and Michelle McCool had a decent exchange leading to McCool pinning Mickie after catching her with a kick as she jumped off the ropes. Melina gets drafted to Smackdown, and for now, the Friday night brand has two women's championships. And with so many worthy contenders!

I'm normally not impressed with signs, but I give credit to the kid that came up with the "You Can't See Me" sign with the arm hole in it. That was inventive. I like that Matt Striker put over that because Jack Swagger vs. John Cena was champion vs. champion, it was worthy of having two draft picks at stage. Thankfully, this wasn't a squash, with Swagger getting to beat down Cena in the early part of the match. I liked Swagger's squishing of Cena's ears with the full nelson, even though the tight camera shot resulted in missing the start of Cena's break out. Cena then hulked up and started hitting his trademark moves, but Swagger got to escape the Attitude Adjustment attempt, which I liked. Then they went to commercial just as Swagger was knocking Cena off the apron, which I didn't like. As the match continued, we had an ugly tornado DDT spot, but Lawler and Striker did a nice job covering for it. Swagger's leapfrog into the Attitude Adjustment was a nice finish, and I would have preferred the pinfall there, but they went with the STF tap out. No Edge run-in, which surprised me.

Matt Hardy to Raw. Good thing they had that stretcher match with Jeff on Friday. Triple H to Raw. So, how is this different than the last several weeks when Triple H has been on Raw?

Hey, there's the Edge run-in! And Cena fends it off? Would it have been so bad for Edge to lay out Cena after a "grueling match?"

Randy goes to talk to Priceless about their strategy, and to remind us of the convoluted stipulations for the main event. The big plan... is to hope Batista, HHH and Shane get disqualified. And Orton seems to like this plan. I wonder if Orton, back in his little league days, would hope for the other team to not show up so his team could win by forfeit?

Santino Marella vs. Great Khali, because their match on Smackdown was so fantastic, it needed to be repeated. Beth Phoenix reveals the added stipulation that if Santino wins, Santina goes on the Khali Kiss Cam. So, Phoenix wants to see her boyfriend, in drag, kissing Khali? You know what, I am just going to stop thinking about it now, before my head hurts. Santino lasts a few seconds more this time, and it is over.

CM Punk to Smackdown! He can use his Money In The Bank Briefcase to challenge ... the Colons? Melina? Maryse? Yeah, Smackdown is lacking in the championship department at the moment. At least Punk should get plenty of air time on Friday nights.

The Miz and Kofi Kingston had a fun match, and it was nice to see two younger talents actually, you know, wrestling! The match dragged a bit in the middle, but then picked up in a big way with the near falls. I really liked Kofi bridging up from the sunset flip to the backslide, and then switching to the legsweep. It was a good bout, but the finish of Morrison hitting Kofi for the DQ was just lame.

The Miz gets drafted to Raw, and he permanently ends his partnership with John Morrison with a Reality Check. I have to be surprised, I figured Morrison would be the one to go to Raw, but either way, it is time to split these guys up and let them fulfill their potential as singles stars.

I like the battle royal concept to determine two draft picks, but what is up with Big Show and MVP being on the Raw team already? It would have made more sense to have put in "regulars" or better yet, do a backstage segment where Vickie Guerrero (or Teddy Long or Tiffany) is shown with their roster, making decisions as to who should go on the team. They could have done an angle with a Raw star being angry over being taken out of the match in favor of Show. Oh, and seriously, who puts someone as small as Tyson Kidd in a battle royal? Basically, the match was the Mark Henry and Big Show elimination competition. I did like that the brands seemed to work together for the most part in the match, and didn't fight amongst themselves. The colored T-Shirts probably helped. Amazingly (yes, being sarcastic) we were left with one representative from each brand. I knew then that Edge would squeeze out the win, since Smackdown desperately needed some draft picks.

Kane to Smackdown. Geez, I really don't need another Kane-Khali feud. Chris Jericho to Smackdown. Wow, so the two best heels in WWE are now on Smackdown, Jericho and Edge. Too bad Orton will still be overshadowed on Raw by Vickie Guerrero.

Christian, he will win something for the now Miz-less ECW, won't he? When Jim Ross said Christian was carrying ECW on his shoulders, they weren't kidding. Shelton Benjamin, who is somewhat directionless now on Smackdown, put in a great performance and no matter how many times I see it, his jump to the top rope is still impressive. Benjamin worked over Christian, then Christian mounted a comeback. They had some fun spots, like Christian ducking a kick, Benjamin avoiding the Killswitch (formerly Unprettier) and hitting a backbreaker. The finish, with Benjamin missing the Stinger Splash and getting caught with the Killswitch was a nice ending.

ECW gets a pick! Vladimir Kozlov. Maybe not having a pick was better.

Another round of "I want to beat up Orton" with Triple H, Shane McMahon and Batista. This is so ridiculous. They all get a chance to beat up on Orton at Backlash, why the petty arguing? Can WWE not come up with something better for their marquee performers (and Shane)?

CM Punk, no representing Smackdown, vs. Matt Hardy, now representing Raw. Jim Ross points out the obvious, which is that Matt can't destroy Jeff if they are different brands. To WWE's credit, I figured this was a tip off that Jeff was coming over, but that wasn't the case, so kudos to them. Matt hit a sweet reverse powerbomb, and I really wish this match had gone longer. Jeff attacks Matt for another lame interference DQ finish, but at least this one popped the crowd. I wonder if they will rush the "final" Hardy vs. Hardy match to Backlash now.

Maryse to Raw. I guess they won't be combining the female championships after all.

Smackdown's Chris Jericho vs. ECW's Tommy Dreamer. Todd Grisham incurs the wrath of a certain member of this website's staff forever by ripping on Dreamer. It was nice to actually see Dreamer in a competitive match again, and I liked the heelish way Jericho kept calling Dreamer "ECW" during the match. Of course, no matter how competitive it was, you knew Dreamer was losing, although the finish of Dreamer jumping into a Codebreaker was nice. Dreamer can still go, even if WWE doesn't care.

The last pick of the night sees Rey Mysterio go to Smackdown, so we at least have a male singles championship on the show again. After initially getting ripped apart by Raw, Smackdown rebounded with Jericho, Punk and Mysterio coming in. The brand just needs to get a top singles championship again, which maybe Edge will do at Backlash.

Time for the match of a thousand stipulations. It is sort of a waste that Batista's first match back on TV is a handicap gimmicky match. Anyway, I liked the way Rhodes and DiBiase worked on Triple H's leg, but this match did nothing to make Priceless look like they belong in a PPV main event. Batista gets the hot tag, ending any offense by the duo who beat the tag champs last week. Shane hits his partner, because he is so adamant about getting the pin. This leads to a Shane-Batista catfight, and HHH gets the pin. So, it is HHH vs. Orton next week. I guess they will try to redo their Wrestlemania classic. Of course, we end the show with Batista, Shane and Triple H staring at Orton. Three hours earlier, Batista was willing to tear up the locker room to get at Orton, but now he is unwilling to run up a ramp? Weak ending to the show.

What To Make Sure And Watch If You DVR'd The Show: Some of the good matches, like Miz-Kofi and Hardy-Punk have disappointing finishes. Still, I would check out most of the singles matches, like Cena-Swagger, Mysterio-Bourne and Dreamer-Jericho, as they have solid action, and the battle royal isn't bad either.

credit: PW Insider