The Smart-Mark’s Guide To The WWE
Raw Review 1/10/05
By Scott McCarthy
It is a new year and WWE has a new Champion, and it is Triple H (again!) The fact that a majority of wrestling fans knew Triple H was going to walk out of the PPV as the Champion is what is wrong with the WWE. The writing has become stale and predictable, and how much of the writing decision has to do with politics and who Triple H is married to. They seem to really want him to beat Ric Flair’s record of title reigns, the problem is Triple H is not even close to being Ric Flair, even when Flair was a heel people still loved him, people still would believe he should be champion and Ric Flair will always be remembered as a legend while Triple H will be almost forgotten about as far as being a legend or memorable champion, he has done nothing to make himself look like he should be champion and almost nobody wants to see him as champion, if your going to pin the declining ratings and ticket sales on any of the current WWE champions, I would look at Triple H, before even considering JBL. Let’s get started.
HHH walks to the ring in a suit, Flair closely behind. The Game has some cuts on his forehead but is all smiles with the world title around his shoulder.
HHH gets on the mic and asks the crowd to hear their excuses. He says "come on, let me hear it?" Is it politics? Favoritism? He says there is NO man who can do what he can. He says go ahead, name one, I don't care what show, what title they have, and so on and so forth. He says there is a sign that says "HHH is God" in the crowd. He says in this ring, he must just be. He then goes on to talk about the match last night and then mentions that he is now a 10 time champion. He says people in 2004 thought the Game was over when Chris Benoit got lucky, but now it is 2005 and one bestseller, one hit movie, and one world title later, he seems to be doing pretty good.
Flair gets on the mic and hits up HHH a bit. HHH then gets back on the mic and he talks about a team player, a man who is part of Evolution, and HHH is proud to say that he is a friend of this BEAST; Batista!
Batista comes out in a suit as well as HHH claps for him inside the ring. As soon as Batista hits the ring, Randy Orton's music hits and he comes to the ring as well. He stops on the ramp with a mic in hand and he has something to say. Orton says he is sorry to interrupt HHH's love story, but he is telling only one side of the story. HHH stops him and tells him that celebrations are for winners, and Orton is a loser. Randy Orton says he got pinned by HHH, but AFTER Batista had been eliminated and Batista helped illegally. Orton says that Batista has HHH's back but it's sad that HHH does not have his and he has the footage to prove it. HHH questions him and says he has no such footage of himself NOT helping Batista in a time of need. HHH says that he has no such footage and they should just leave. HHH goes to leave but Batista grabs him by the arm and says he wishes to see the footage. Randy rolls the footage and we see the clip last night of when Orton RKO'ed Batista and pinned him. HHH was in the corner at the time and could have clearly gotten up to help Batista but he fell back down and did not help.
HHH makes a bunch of excuses about how his knees buckled and he lost a lot of blood. HHH is clearly lying! Orton says Batista does not believe him and neither does he. He says "you had no energy?" Then check this out! It shows HHH after the match celebrating with plenty of energy. Orton goes on to DEMAND a world title match tonight but Bischoff comes out and cuts him off.
Bischoff says that Orton deserves a title shot, and so does Batista, so they will face in a number one contender's match tonight. HHH tries to say that Orton cannot challenge him for the title but Bischoff says that changed when Triple H lost the belt.
Segment Rating- *** ½
Shelton Benjamin vs. Maven- A rather quick match and nothing really worth mentioning, Benjamin wins with the T-Bone suplex
Match Rating- ** ½
Hassan vs. Hurricane- Another forgettable match, while both of these guys are favorites of mine I just did not see anything special about this match, while there was nothing to really complain about either. This match was also pretty fast. Hurricane attempts a shining wizard, he misses and Hassan hits his finisher.
Match Rating- ** ½
We next see Batista in the back sitting down thinking about his match tonight. Triple H comes in and tries to convince Batista that despite everything Orton has said tonight, that he and Ric Flair has his back. That Batista deserves a title shot, Batista asks if that is how he really feels and Triple H says yeah, Batista pats Triple H on the back and says good because everyone gets what they deserve!
Segment Rating- ***
Edge vs. Rhyno- this match was actually pretty decent and I enjoyed it more then the first two matches, and in a surprise move Edge wins the match by making Rhyno tap out!
Edge starts complaining about HBK and to get his Prima Donna ass out here! HBK doesn’t come out and we go to commercial, when we come back from commercial Edge is still in the ring and finally HBK comes out and tries to tell Edge that instead of complaining about the past to look towards the future, that he knows how Edge feels because he use to be the same way. Edge starts to think about what HBK has said, then decides to attack him instead, HBK gets the upper hand and Edge is sent to the outside of the ring where HBK and Edge are separated.
Match Rating- ***
Post Match Action- *** ½
Simon Dean comes out and he talks trash about Florida and how about how out of shape everyone on Florida beaches are, then he starts talking a certain out of shape freak that is known to wear a mask, he is expecting Rosey but out comes Kane! Simon looks like he is going to cry, but instead of attacking Simon, Kane asks him for some pills from his Simon System, Kane tries them and the look on his face says he isn’t liking them. He then forces Simon to eat his own pills and then attacks him, he toys with him and sets him up for the choke slam, but then he is attacked from behind by Snitsky who has a chair, then attacks Kane with Simon Deans weight belt. Kane is left laying and is bleeding from the mouth.
Segment Rating- ***
Next we see Flair & Triple H talking, Flair is worried that they need Batista on their side and he may be buying what Orton is saying. Triple H says to tell Batista his record vs. Orton is not great because negative reinforcement works well on him, Flair doesn’t look to sure about it but says he will do it.
Segment Rating- ***
Christian & Tomko vs. Benoit & Jericho- This was a fun match to watch, a fun note that ties into Raw Interactive is that Christian now wants to be known as Christian The Crippler, I guess that is suppose to be a jab at Benoit. I like three of the four guys in this match (Tomko being the guy I don’t care for) The finish was cool, with Benoit & Jericho getting Christian & Tomko in the Crossface & Walls of Jericho, and both men tap out!
Match Rating- *** ½
Flair returns from Batista’s locker room and says the reinforcement did not work at all, he is now really pissed off and feels that they are not behind him. Triple H says he will show Batista how behind him he is tonight!
Diva Lingerie Pillow Fight- Hot Girls, Bad Segment, end of story. This set woman’s wrestling back 50 years.
Match Rating- ½ Star
Batista vs. Orton- This was a great match, except that I knew (as well as most people) how this match was going to end. Batista is quickly becoming one of my favorite guys to watch, something I would have never thought when he debuted as Decon Bautista with Rev. D-Von Randy Orton is still one of WWE’s Superstars that still has not even reached his full potential yet. Like I said the match itself was the best one of the night, but with Flair & Triple H sitting ringside it made it to obvious on how the match would end. The finish with Triple H trying to give Batista a chair, only to have Batista argue that he doesn’t need the chair and Orton blind slide Batista and send him into the chair was so easy to see coming, you didn’t need Mrs. Cleo to tell you Obviously Orton gets the win and Batista looks furious at Triple H as Raw goes off the air.
This was a very average Raw, held back by predictable endings and horrid Diva segments. As much as I like seeing Christy & the rest, they don’t belong in the ring. I can only imagine what girls like Trish, Molly Holly & Victoria think about these segments. They are meant to be fun, and they are, but they are done in such poor fashion that it is almost insulting to watch. The best thing about last nights Raw, was not even on TV it happened in the DOIWrestling.com chat room on Raw Interactive. A back and forth battle that had everyone in 1st place in the room at one point or another, in the end the results were.
Myself- 12902
Johnny 5- 6769
LC- 5352
The amount of PPV questions was a little cheap, and we all suffered huge points losses due to them, but it is always fun and your all welcome to join us every Monday night, we have a great time and it makes Raw a fun experience. Here is a reminder of how my star rating system breaks down.
* This is 10 minutes of my life I will never get back
* * This is so bad, I would rather watch Chyna’s sex tape!
***- Average, nothing bad but nothing special either
**** This is what we need more of!
***** An Instant Classic!
I hope you all come back later in the week for my Smackdown review, until then thanks for reading!
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