Looking At An "It's A Good Thing They Didn't Put That Show On Ppv" Edition Of Raw
LOOKING AT AN "IT'S A GOOD THING THEY DIDN'T PUT THAT SHOW ON PPV" EDITION OF RAW
When WWE announced the King of the Ring tournament for this week's Raw, I had a good feeling about it. After all, the last few three hour Raws haven't been anything special, instead they just gave us an extra hour of their usual broadcast. With this tournament, I had hoped for some quality matches that would, hopefully, get some time to play out.
It started out that way, with the first two bouts delivering in both name value and quality. All four guys belonged in the tourney and worked hard. Any of them would have been a great pick to win the title, so of course none did. That is when things went downhill. Fast, as three of the next four guys just didn't belong.
Out came Great Khali. Ugh. Then we had William Regal, a guy who used to be a great worker and may still be one but is also a well over 40 year old worker who well, doesn't work. He has been a character for so long that him entering the tournament at his age kind and position on the brand of scared me. When he beat Hornswoggle and then was handed a match with an "injured" Finlay, I started getting really ticked. When he beat CM "MITB apparently doesn't mean what it used to" Punk in the final, well that did it for me. What a waste of three hours of my life. I say waste because it could have been so much more than it was.
And that is part of the problem. WWE creative just doesn't explain anything any more. It's clear that they realize that kids are their biggest audience and they don't feel the need to book coherent storylines. They think it's perfectly fine to just throw anything out there and the viewer will accept it. And maybe they will, but will they pay for it? Where are those WrestleMania "early numbers" that we had a week after the show last year?
Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Regal. In fact, years ago, I loved his work. He may still be able to work now but the point of KOTR has always been to elevate an active wrestler from the midcard to a better slot. The key word here is "active". Regal is a figurehead. Last week, he booked himself into a match with the champ and hung in there with him. Would it have been so hard for them to have Regal do a promo saying that because of "my performance in London, I am now an active wrestler and I 'randomly' got a match in the tourney and it just so happened to be against Horny". At least then there's a freaking story to the whole thing, not just, "Here's your slop you hogs, eat it".
Sure, Regal's win is probably the start of a push and him doing promos around being a monarch in his British accent, and WWE thinks that makes perfect sense in booking him to beat Finlay and Punk, but to me, I just sat in my office while watching it and said, "That is exactly whey WWE is in the situation that it's in. They just don't get it".
As for the rest of the show, well they had fake Hillary wrestle fake Obama while fake Bill watched. Frankly, I was expecting Bill to "not have sex" with one of the divas. Mae Young with a cigar perhaps. It was that bad. Then again, on this night, it would have probably been fitting because this who show came across like a bad bit of oral copulation to me.
The Angles:
- Last week, I was starting to get into the angle that they were doing with Shawn Michaels and Batista. They finally started to put it out there that Batista was kind of goofy and not making any sense with the things he was saying to Shawn. Then, Batista came out this week acting like he now wasn't being a dope about all this. Instead it's back to being, well, I am not sure what it's back to being. Me? I am back to thinking there is no clear story here but with that said, at least the two men did a good job of selling whatever part of the story there is. And, they should have a good match Sunday.
- It was amazing to me that WWE could get the three Presidential candidates to do cameos. It just blows my mind, it really does. It was a huge deal for WWE to get them on the show. Which leads me to....
- You know what's wrong with WWE? Well, a lot of thing but here is one a nutshell. They promoted Obama vs. Clinton as appearing on the show for the last few weeks. They had planned to do a lame angle in the mold of Rosie vs. Donald because, well, WE MAKE MOVIES. We are not wrestling, we ARE ENTERTAINMENT. Ugh, whatever. But then, through divine intervention of some sort, they actually got the candidates to send in interviews and appear on a WWE broadcast. What a mother lode! They should have been ecstatic. But, Vince being Vince, he can't say, "Damn, we just got lucky, we should be happy about that." No, instead he says, "I have this hilarious idea that I just have to do on national TV and the people will love it because I will tell them they love it". And he does the ridiculous, lame ass angle anyway. That, my friends, is how WWE manages to alienate viewers every week.
- It may be an indictment about the rest of the show, but I actually found the divas face off to be entertaining. On this night, that was saying something.
The Matches:
- Chris Jericho and MVP had a good match to open up the show. It gave me a good feeling for the tournament. Both guys could have been credible choices to win it all.
- CM Punk and Matt Hardy also had a good first round match. Sure, it wasn't as long as you may have liked but since we knew that the winner had to work at least one more match, you couldn't expect much more from it.
- Finlay vs. Khali....well, Khali sucks but at least he lost. Of course, Finlay was "hurt" so I began getting a bad feeling about the tournament at this point.
- There's not much to say about William Regal vs. Horny other than it was fast. OK, there's more to say, like, "Why was Horny in something that was supposed to matter"? Or, why was Regal in this when he is a figurehead and not, supposedly, an active wrestler. And, how about the fact that you were wondering if the semi-main event between Finlay and Regal would suck because of the injury angle when if they were allowed to go at it otherwise it would have probably been great. Anyway, I had some hope for this tourney after the first two matches. After the second two, well I lost some of that hope. I definitely understand why they didn't announce the matches in advance however as people wouldn't have tuned in if they had seen that line up in advance.
- Bob Holly vs. Carlito was all about continuing the tag feud with their two teams. It was fine for what it was.
- I had this sick feeling when the match started that CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho would be the best part of the KOTR tournament. Little did I know how right I would be.
- William Regal vs. Finlay was short because of the injury gimmick. My problem with it was it could have been so much more. Less than five minutes? Please. Sure, Finlay was "hurt" but come on, Regal is not even an active wrestler so that should have evened things out a bit. They should have gone at least ten minutes.
- Then, it got worse. Much worse, as William Regal, a non-wrestling character, won the King of the Ring tournament. I ranted enough about this above. At least the match itself was solid.
- The main event was a good TV match that pushed the top matches for Sunday's PPV. The question is, Did it push them enough to get you to part with your money? We will know the answer in a few months.
What to watch if you DVR'd the show:
- There were a few good matches to watch. You can get through the show in about a half hour.
Rhetorical and Unanswered Questions:
- If the KOTR winner was King for "only one night", as Lilian said, why bother doing it at all?
- When Matt Hardy came out for his match with CM Punk, did anyone else think, "Sure, they put the two guys I want to see get to the finals in an opening round match!"?
- Isn't there something bizarre about seeing a promo for presidential candidates appearing on Raw later tonight?
- Did they really have a video game presentation of Obama vs. Clinton on Raw?
- REALLY?
- If JBL has so much knowledge and acumen, why can't he get some better clothes?
- Did JBL really push a New York Times article that called his product a "Sex-Enhancing Potion" like it was a good thing?
- Does anyone else groan when they hear Khali's music?
- Does it bug you when they refer to Horny as Finlay's son when they never explained why they had the guy pretend he was Vince's kid?
- Did you notice that at the moment that JR was saying that Finlay was trying to defend his "son", he was literally kicking Horny out of the ring, under the ropes?
- Would is shock you if I told you that Khali didn't look any better in HD?
- Willie Regal vs. Hornswoggle?
- Really?
- And, what does it say about how little the tournament matters when those two are in it?
- By the time the first round was over, was anyone else pining for the names that they put in the WWE.com graphic last week?
- Did JR really call the lackluster 8 main one of the most "celebrated" Raw main events ever?
- Wasn't there just something ridiculously surreal in them telling us that the three Presidential candidates would appear on Raw?
- Did I really see Carlito spit on a ringside fan after his match?
- Why is it that Bob Holly doesn't give Cody Rhodes the "tough love" treatment any more?
- Did you get the feeling from his promo that HHH was doing everything he could to sell the main event for Sunday's PPV?
- Wasn't Lawler shooting when he said that hearing from Senator Obama was absolutely amazing?
- Isn't it a shame that Finlay and Regal didn't have their match about 10 years ago, or better yet in Japan or on an indy run by someone who actually values in-ring wrestling?
- Boy, did John McCain pander way more the wrestling fans than Obama and Clinton put together or what?
- Did anyone else feel proud when the fans crapped all over the Bill and Hillary bit?
- When Clinton and Obama saw the segment that WWE did with "them", were they sorry that they ever sent in taped segments?
- Didn't you just know that "Bill" was going to trip "Obama"?
- Who dresses Trashley anyway?
- Why were all the divas happy for Mickie winning the title when they should want the belt themselves?
- And why were all the heel divas backing Beth Phoenix when they should want the title too?
- Wasn't Lawler shooting when he said that the he was hoping for the divas to get into a throw down?
- Did they keep Mr. Kennedy off of Raw this week so they didn't have to explain why he wasn't in, or didn't win, the King of the Ring tournament?
- Then again, am I sucker for even expecting that they would explain anything at this point?
- When Orton said that his actions do "most of my talking", was I the only one thinking, "Can you PLEASE change that to ALL of your talking!"?
- When JR talked about all the champions in the ring, was anyone else thinking about how Chavo just didn't belong there?
- Honestly, did they do anything on this show to make you want to buy Backlash on Sunday, especially when all of the faces were left standing strong?
- And, when did they forget that was one of the major reasons for doing their TV show?
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