Raw Thoughts - February 8, 2010
And we're back, and Christian is in the ring with Carl Edwards and Sheamus?! What the hell is happening? Christian finally clears up what's happening to ECW, all the Superstars become free agents, but that doesn't exactly address the ECW Title. Maybe a unification match somewhere down the road? Well, we're getting a non-title match right now!
Christian vs. Sheamus is our opening contest and this is a match we probably should've gotten when Sheamus was still on ECW. Great match here, good length (and not just a good length for Raw), Christian looked like a million bucks, but the right man went over. I know people are going to be pissed that Christian lost, but Sheamus is the WWE Champion, the same WWE Champion who's been desperate for a high-profile win since getting the title. Personally, I'm hoping Christian stays as far away from Raw as possible and signs with Smackdown now that he's about to be a free agent.
So now that we know the future of the ECW roster, I'm a bit concerned about some of the guys. I don't know if Kozlov, Vance Archer, Tyler Reks, Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft are going to be able to find a place on Raw or Smackdown.
John Cena has more guts than brains to take that powerbomb on the steel stairs, especially with a surgically repaired neck.
More issues within Legacy. Ted DiBiase has a match with John Cena tonight and Cody Rhodes will be going one-on-one with... Randy Orton. Woopity doo.
Unified Tag Team Titles on the line next! And it's elimination rules? That's awesome. Straight Edge Society out first to do a little preaching for the Lafayette crowd, and it looks like they're going to forcefully convert Jared the Subway Guy to the sXe lifestyle! Yeah, Punk and Gallows better win, we need these guys on Raw and Smackdown every week. Unfortunately, that damn DX just had to interrupt, thus making the save for Jared, I would've much rather seen him get his head shaved and his sandwich stolen by Santino.
Oh yeah, there is a match happening, Straight Edge Society vs. D-Generation X vs. ShowMizness and we're not wasting any time! It's absolute pandemonium in the ring (or "pandermonium" if Taz is reading), but DX cleans house and takes us to commercial. And we're back from commercial... and two minutes later, another commercial? WTF?!
We're back (again), and that better be the last break in this match. No one's been eliminated yet and we've got ourselves a pretty fun match so far. Well, it was fun until CM Punk got hit with Sweet Chin Music and got eliminated. Why the hell would the Straight Edge Society go out first? Why the hell wouldn't the Straight Edge Society win this match? DX don't really need the tag belts, especially with WrestleMania around the corner and do we need another Big Show Tag Title reign? I love The Miz, but ShowMizness is nowhere near JeriShow in terms of awesomeness. But apparently WWE disagrees because Show & Miz just won the gold! All this says to me is WWE has absolutely nothing for Big Show to do.
The Miz & Big Show are backstage, and as much as I'd rather have the Straight Edge Society on Raw and Smackdown every week, this partnership could be a lot of fun. And it looks like I have to retire "ShowMizness," the official name of the tag team? ShowMiz!
Shawn Michaels is pleading with Teddy Long like a drug addict looking for a fix. He wants to go to Smackdown, go into the Elimination Chamber, beat The Undertaker and give him a rematch at WrestleMania. Unfortunately for HBK, T-Lo says no, because he obviously can't remove R-Truth from a match in favor of Shawn Michaels. Triple H tries to talk some sense into Shawn for the sake of his career, but HBK says his career is "over" and Superkicks T-Lo!
So I was glancing at my laptop and apparently there was a Gail Kim vs. Jillian match? Blink and you missed it, but if you blinked, I don't think you missed much. The crowd agreed with me as well, you could hear a pin drop in the arena during this one.
First 2010 Hall of Fame inductee announced and it's "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase! It's about damn time! Money, money, money, money, money, MONEEEEEEY!
Santino Marella is backstage with Carl Edwards & Jared The Subway Guy, sorry Jerry "Stupid" Lawler, no sandwich for you! Santino has a match this Thursday against Jack Swagger and Kofi Kingston proposes all six Elimination Chamber participants in individual singles matches. But those matches will be put together by next week's guest host, Jerry Springer!
Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes up next and we've got ourselves a good ol' fashioned SLAP FIGHT! Easy now, very unladylike of you two! Match barely gets underway before Sheamus provides a distraction and Cody hits Cross Rhodes for the win?! Are you kidding me?! Sheamus hits the bicycle kick for good measure, but Cody scares off the WWE Champion with a chair. What the hell just happened?
Speaking of what the hell just happened, John Cena vs. Ted DiBiase never really gets started, Cena just beats the hell out of DiBiase and calls out Batista, which takes us to yet another commercial. Apparently Batista isn't here tonight, but if Cena can't fight Batista, he wants to talk to Vince McMahon. Vinny Mac is here, along with ten security guards and perhaps his most ridiculous Vince walk ever. Cena is electric here tonight, "money or the moment" might be a defining promo for Cena and this generation of professional wrestling. Great, great stuff. And It looks like we're getting Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 26... and Bret Hart is here! Bret goes nutzo on Vince and his security, and then when Vince runs, Bret tears up the Raw set, Montreal style!
Okay, so Raw kinda fell apart from a wrestling standpoint after the Tag Title match, but in terms of storyline advancement, this was a flat-out awesome show. WrestleMania is really coming together, but there's still a bit of intrigue to keep us wondering. Will Bret Hart really wrestle again? Is Shawn Michaels going to get his match with The Undertaker or will DX explode on the grandest stage of them all? What's the deal with Legacy? Who's going to be WWE Champion come WrestleMania? And of course, what the hell is going to happen with all the ECW guys? Lots of big questions to be answered, but if WWE keeps it up with stuff like this, I'm happy to be along for the ride.
Amazon.com - WWE: The Best of RAW 2009

