The Smart-Mark's Guide To The WWE
Raw Review 1/17/05
By Scott McCarthy
Welcome back, the new year is now in full swing and things seem to have already changed. Smackdown for the most part of 2004 was the inferior brand, with bland storylines and boring matches, so far in 2005 Raw has been pretty stale, boring and most of all predictable, while Smackdown has offered up some great in ring action combined with some rather entertaining storyline segments. It almost seems impossible for WWE to have high quality across the two brands at the same time, that is not to say Raw has been bad, it just has been predictable especially with the return of Triple H as World Champion. The best two storylines they have are two that they have been using for some time, the slow build up of tension between Triple H and Batista has been done well, but it seems they may be really milking it and then the Kane & Snitsky feud should be done already, it has run it's course and there is no reason that it should still be a major part of Raw. This weeks Raw was no different, stale, boring and predictable and unfortunately my review will reflect it, because to quote Roddy Piper from They Live "That is like putting perfume on a pig".
Opening Segment- Highlights from last weeks number one contenders match, that ended with Triple H costing Batista the match by trying to give him a chair and it backfiring, and helping Randy Orton win the match instead.
Segment Rating- ***
Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel- Jericho talks about his match tonight with Chris Benoit and that he has qualified for the Royal Rumble, he is then interrupted by Hussan & Daivari , Hussan goes off on Canada calling them second class citizens and the people responsible for the 9/11 terrorist being able to enter the USA. He says that Canadians think they are classier then people in the USA, but they are just as racist as those in the US. Jericho tells them to shut the hell up and that he doesn't know about them being racist, but he knows what they think of you two ass clowns and the crowd starts chanting Asshole. When Daivari says something, Jericho thinks he asked for an autographed Fozzy CD. Mohammed tells Jericho he is the worst of both worlds, because he was born in America and raised in Canada. Jericho attacks them, he gets Mohammed in the Walls of Jericho, until Daivari attacks him and then Chris Benoit comes in for the save.
Segment Rating- ***
Triple H & Flair Arriving- Triple H mocks a Canadian stage hand and Flair claims Batista is not mad.
Segment Rating- **
Hurricane, Rosey & Shelton Benjamin vs. La Resistance (c) & Maven- La Resistance had won the Tag Team Titles at a house show in Canada during the week. That was about as good as the match got, and it was a rather boring match for the rest of the way and La Resistance eventually get the pin on Rosey.
Match Rating- **
Orton is backstage and Stacy Kiebler walks over to tell him she is happy for him becoming the number one contender and kisses him on the cheek. Stone Cold Steve Austin will be having a press conference this week, in Hollywood, CA and fans will be allowed to attend.
Segment Rating- **
Randy Orton comes out and talks about the greatest moment in his career happened in Canada, eventually Triple H comes out and they go back and forth on the microphones. Triple H talks about how Randy turned his back on them, and about how he is a 10 time World Champion (yup, that could be part f the ratings problem!) and that makes him the greatest wrestler in the business. Randy tells Triple H to come to the ring, Triple H removes his jacket and then backs off. This segment REEKS of what is wrong with Raw, a feud going on for way to long, Triple H being Champion and they say absolutely nothing they have not said before.
Segment Rating- **
Triple H is pissed off and he says once Batista gets here he will tell him how it is, that he is tired of pussy footing around it and he storms into the locker room, bt guess what Batista is already there and Triple H quickly changes his tune. Batista tells him he is on his way to Bischoff's office and it is about the WWE World Championship & Royal Rumble.
Segment Rating- ** ½
HBK is backstage with Coach, the Canadians boo him (come on people, GET OVER IT!) Bischoff comes over and tells him since he is who he is, he will automatically be entered into the Royal Rumble without going through having to win a entry match. However, since he is dressed for action he will put him in a match with Christian.
Segment Rating- **
Christian vs. Shawn Michaels- Edge comes out early and watches the match from the ramp, then makes his way ringside. The match itelf was alright, HBK & Christian had a very solid match and it had a good finish with Tomko blocking a sweet chin music, then Christian ducking a second, then HBK reversing out of the unprettier and hitting the superkick, for the one, two and three. HBK then nails Tomko with a superkick, but Edge comes in and spears Michaels and puts him in a variation of the sharpshooter, he screams at HBK "You Screwed Me!" if Shawn Michaels screwed as many Canadians as people claim, he would be the Wilt Chamberlain of the WWE. The Canadians actually cheer Edge, once again proving that Canadians are just what Jerry "The King" Lawler says they are, from Bizzaro world. HBK is one of my all time favorites and Christian is underrated so I enjoyed this match enough to give it a solid rating.
Match Rating- *** ½
Batista vs. King Mabel, I mean Viscera- Batista in my opinion has been one of the best things going on Raw for awhile, and pairing him with Viscera makes no sense since Viscera can barley walk, let alone wrestle. Batista beats him with the spine buster.
Match Rating- **
Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit- This was the match of the night, good back and forth wrestling and the match was actually entertaining. Lots of near pins for both wrestlers and they highlight what is good on Raw. The finish seen Jericho & Benoit reverse each others finishers about four or five times in a row, before Jericho gets Benoit with an inside cradle and gets the three count, tempers flair a little after the match, but they both shake hands. Very good match!
Match Rating- *** ¾
Trish Stratus comes out, she bashes the United States and calls Americans USA Holes. She then starts gloating about defeating Lita at the Pay Per View, she starts making fun of her injury and then Kane's music hits and Kane comes out, Trish runs as if her life depended on it and she get, and it probably does. Kane catches her as she attempts to flee over the guard rail, he brings he back to the ring and holds her by her neck and gets ready to chokeslam her. He asks her if she is scared (what is she on Scare Tactics?) she says yes, and continues to beg for forgiveness. Kane has second thoughts, and lets her go and he turns away from Trish. Kane smiles and turns around and suddenly hits Trish with a massive chokeslam! And the crowd chants Holy Shit!
Segment Rating- ***
Kane vs. Snitsky- No, I am not joking this is the main event. As much as I like both of these characters, this should not be the main event as neither one of these guys will ever be mixed up with Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair. Typical big man power match, Snitsky attempts the chair on the throat spot again, but Kane sits up and attacks him with the chair while he is on the top rope, they battle up the ramp and the end result was Kane doing a falling chokeslam off the stage and through equipment, with both guys not moving as Raw went off the air.
Match Rating ***
If it was not so predictable, Raw would have been pretty decent but as it stands everything that was done has already been done before or was of little interest. It was by far one of the least interesting Raw programs in a long time, and it accomplished one thing and that is it made me look forward to Smackdown. Here is how Raw Interactive broke down, first some notes Johnny 5 was in and out for the 1st hour watching 24, LC came ½ hour late and I had over 5000 points in about the 1st 20 minutes.
LC-7165
Johnny 5-6945
Myself- 72….that is no typo, I really did that bad on my gambles!
Thanks for reading, see you back here for my Smackdown recap.
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