RAW 9/25
There are many directions that the WWE's latest edition of RAW could have went on Monday night, but for once I think that the company is realizing that by using different wrestlers on different shows, it may bring some energy that we have not seen in some time. Of course I am referring to the use of King Booker, Finley and William Regal to do a beat down on champion John Cena to end the show and further their setup for Friday Nights 6-man main event tag on SmackDown. To some using those guys may seem like a desperate attempt to continue a dead storyline, but I like that they are not afraid to realize that SmackDown needs help, and having Cena on their show is a positive, while the three heels on the end of RAW was a positive as well.
The rest of the show was pretty average, with most of the storylines either one night deals, or ones that have been going on for some time. The DX gauntlet deal has been done for the last three months at house shows, and appeared to be a build up for a "Cyber Sunday" tag with Cade and Murdoch. The Kane-Nitro match was just a build up for a Cyber PPV match with a stip for Umaga and Kane. I have no idea what they are doing with Ric Flair in reference to his last two matches with members of the Spirit Squad. Both have not been good matches, and the angle does not really appear to have any sort of long term planning. Flair is reaching the point of Hulk Hogan, where they should have him only on PPV matches here and there with real detailed angles with guys that will work hard and get a push from wrestling him.
I figured after last week they were going to unveil some sort of decision on what to do with the womens title, so now I guess we have to sit through a drawn out tourney just to end up with Mickie James and Lita in a match at Cyber Sunday for the belt. I know that they are looking for content within the womens division, but I would have had no problem with just an announced match between James and Lita at the PPV. Lita is the former champ, and James was the champ before her. How hard could this have been to set up?
I'm not a big fan of the race card angle that Shelton Benjamin is using. Talk about an overused angle. A wrestler can't get over either as a face or heel, so let's use the race card and see where that gets us. The funny thing is its almost as if they are setting up some sort of confrontation between Benjamin and Coachman, meaning that Shelton would likely go face, which I don't understand. The match between he and Jeff Hardy was the best actual wrestling match on the show.
The tag with Masters and Orton vs Carlito and Crazy was just filler, and two matches upcoming will be a rematch with Orton and Carlito and another go around with Masters and Crazy, with this time Masters finally getting out of his funk with a win. And just a note on what was not shown on TV, Cryme Tyme defeated the Spirit Squad, and reports say the new team was WAY over with the crowd, meaning I guess they will come in as faces and probably within a few weeks will get the belts. Interesting that a team that is supposed to be thugs that beat up white people are going to get cheered by - what else - white people.
So with this show we end with a few things upcoming - one is next weeks main event with Edge getting his rematch with Cena in a cage, and the other the build up for the next PPV - Cyber Sunday. The CS card looks a little vague right now, with the only for sures being Lita vs James for the womens strap, Orton vs Carlito, Kane vs Umaga, and DX vs Cade & Murdoch. Other than that, a lot can be shifted around from now till then, and we'll see what direction they go in with a lot of these current angles.
