I liked Raw this week. It wasn’t great but unlike previous episodes, it didn’t overly annoy me either. Believe it or not, I think the reason I didn’t find Raw overly annoying was Criss Angel. OK, I have to admit, I do like the mind-freak, but at least his tricks were far more entertaining to watch rather then the usual Guest Host segments. I think Raw would have come off much worse if we were treated to the usual segments because, wrestling wise, it was quite ordinary. For me, it was nice because there was nothing over irritating or childlike so this is a rare occurrence in which I’d say this, but congrats Criss Angel. You did a reasonable job guest hosting Raw, sadly it won’t be remembered too long because you have some very stiff competition next week in the form of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Anyway, Raw wasn’t too bad, but nothing stood out as being particularly great, bar the opening segment. Now, regardless of how I felt about how HBK and Taker was handled a couple of weeks ago at Elimination Chamber, I have to hand to it the WWE, they’re building this feud nicely once again and possibly better then imagined because it seems once again that HBK could be in with a chance. The two veterans exchanged words on Monday to perfection and the tension was wonderfully built between the two. I was expecting a brawl at the end but I couldn’t be happier that it didn’t happen, because it would have taken the charm out of the powerful segment. Hopefully, they don’t exchange fists over the next couple of weeks but rather continue this ongoing war of words because at the moment, Match Number 2 is building up very nicely.
The first match of the night was the three-diva-tag match which was as expected, quite dull. Eve was made to look strong but she isn’t good enough to cut it in the ring so it just came off badly.
Moving on. I didn’t mind the way they managed the ShowMiz Tag Match. It made Truth and Johnny Boy look strong and it didn’t give us too much, opting rather to save it for Mania. Honestly though, as much as I love Morrison, he came off quite average on the mic proceeding the ShowMiz beat down.
The next encounter saw Randy Candy take on his former protégé’s Ted and Cody. The match was OK but it seemed a bit half arsed from all the talent. I did however like the finishing touches with Rhodes and DiBiase mocking Orton. I must admit, like many I was a tad confused as to why this match was happening, hopefully the WWE can mix it up a bit to make the WM encounter a little more intriguing.
Next up was Triple H and Sheamus. I really like how this played out. Triple H came off strong and Sheamus likewise and whilst I don’t think it’ll be a classic, I think the WWE built their match well on Monday. Unlike the Taker/HBK segment, this one did erupt and it came off very well. Triple H did a great job building the tension in the segment and when it finally kicked off, it was somewhat exciting because we didn’t know who was going to get the upper hand. I’m actually liking the idea of their match at Mania, because if it continues to build in this manner, it could be a hard match to predict, which personally I’m all for.
Bourne and Regal were up next but before I go onto the match, I want to mention their preceeding segment with Angel. Regal came off perfectly during it and his reactions to Skip and even Angel to an extent were great. Skip however, I’d be quite happy to get him off my screen sooner rather then later. Seriously, the guy is offensive. I’m from England and even I can see that the dumb Texan is a horrible insult to Southerners, although this isn’t the first time the WWE have came up with such a creation. Remember Gallows and SlamMaster? On that note…SlamMaster J? Seriously???
Moving on once again from a topic I’ll know I’ll rant about extensively. The Regal and Bourne match wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t nothing overly special but it had more then some other matches during the evening. Interestingly Christian joined the announce team, hopefully this is an indication of a small push before a big win. Spoilier coming up, if you don’t want to read it, skip to the end of the paragraph. With Drew McIntyre earning a spot in MITB this year, I’m not sure what WWE are going to do in the match but the Captain and Drew seem to be favourites. In saying that, I wouldn’t be surprised if Drew lost once again and is then told that whilst Smackdown matches can be wiped from the record, WM matches can’t. Could set up a nice feud between the two stars. Have to wait and see what transpires I guess.
Finally, the main event. Let’s just discuss the participants first. Kozlov, OK his appearance could be seen as an introduction to Raw. Drew and Swagger, likewise, both could be seen as a little boost. I can even understand Henry to an extent as Vince was using him solely because of his power. Kingston however? Completely random. Why have Kingston make a save now and not any other week, it just didn’t make sense. Overall, I thought this segment was a mess and it done nothing to help build the Vince and Hart Match or the Title Match at Mania. Truthfully, I can’t even go into much detail because it was just bewildering and pointless, unless of course it serves as a means for Vince to say he beat the one man machine known as John Cena. For me, this was the worst segment of the night, worse then the diva tag match.
Anyway, there are my thoughts regarding this weeks Raw. Until NXT time…
