RAW 10/9
The so-called "season premiere" of RAW was a showcase of the company's three champions, as King Booker, John Cena, and Big Show all squared off in the ring, did a little brawl, and then it was announced by the returning Vince McMahon that the three would go up against one another at the Cyber Sunday PPV on November 5th in Cincy. The other part of the show that will lead to a major feud is Edge, who called out and will team up with Randy Orton, going up against DX in what should be a solid back and forth between the four major superstars.
There was lots of filler on the show, as with it going a full three hours five minutes, the opening with the three champs went almost a half an hour. There was a lot of actual wrestling as well, as there were 9 total matches. The interesting thing is how they put on a three hour show one night after a PPV which was highlighted by just six matches, and a fat male stripper, and made fans pay $40 for it. Then one night later they put on a much bigger and better card on free TV. And the company wonders why fans get turned off to it.
They finally did the angle where Umaga goes over clean on Kane, and now Kane must leave RAW. Of course this only looks as if its going to set up another team with he and his "brother" the Undertaker on SmackDown. Though it would be interesting if they could land Kane on ECW. I would like to see some matches between he and some of new guys on the show. It at least would make for interesting TV for a few weeks. Big Show beat on Jeff Hardy, scoring the clean pin. Each champion on the show won, and Show and Booker got over clean, while even though it states no contest, they protected Cena in the main event of the show against Taker.
The DX-Cade&Murdoch Street Fight was somewhat weak, as you could tell this was a TV Street Fight instead of that on PPV. The four went at it pretty good, and Cade did the job of blading and getting buried with the two finishing moves and the pin. This will put a end to this mini-feud and set up the upcoming program with Orton and Edge vs DX. Shelton Benjamin and Chris Benoit had a short but solid match. They underuse Benjamin so badly, its not even funny. He should not have been in a position to lose like he did to Benoit. I agree that Benoit deserved to comeback and get a win on the show, but it should have been against someone else (Johnny Nitro?).
The SmackDown six-man was okay, with the faces of Batista, Mystero and Lashley getting over on Finley, Regal and Guerrero. There is no question that over the last two weeks, you can see who the crowd really feels is the star of SmackDown, and that is Batista. His crowd reactions are the biggest on the show, and one has to wonder what they will do in the future with him, and at what point does he get the belt back. If they wait too long, does he go stale? If they put it on him too fast, is it a death blow for the belt and does it become stale? Wait and see.
To me the best part on the show, being a fan for well over 20 years, was the intro's of the legends - Roddy Piper (please WWE keep using him!), Money Inc (great to see I.R.S!), and Arn Anderson. The story of them being there to help out Ric Flair against the five members of the Spirit Squad was well done, and I have to agree with J.R. as he said time after time that Monday nights are the most special time of the week when it comes to wrestling. Well, that's true as well since its the only show live. In this case, it was a great chance to get the older guys on the show, as well as have them interact a bit with the younger SS and Flair.
The main event was a well worked match with Taker and Cena, and of course ended with the interference of Booker and Show. This came down after the announcement that three three would face off at the PPV in November. It's a solid decision, and one that will lead to the eventual team concept of RAW vs SmackDown vs ECW at the Survivor Series in Philly. All in all, an enjoyable three hour show that pretty much highlighted each and every major star in all three brands.
