Raw Report
Date: 11/05/07 from Los Angeles, CA.
The Big News: Steve Austin and DX returned.
Show Analysis:
The show opened with a graphic for the Fabulous Moolah. Shawn Michaels and Triple H then came out in DX attire. They were about to do the “let’s get ready” shtick when Hornswoggle joined them. They told him to back under the ring, but he refused and put Michaels in the short arm scissors. Shawn said that Hornswoggle could be a member of DX. HHH told him to go back under the ring, but Hornswoggle said there was a monster under the ring. Michaels went to check, and got pulled under. He came out with worms in his mouth.
Boogey Man then came out from under the ring. He said he’s the Boogey Man, and he wants to join DX. They decided to let him in and were again about to do “let’s get ready.” Great Khali then came down. HHH guessed he wanted to be a part of DX too, and told him to get in the back. Coach interrupted and was annoyed with all this, so HHH told Khali that Coach had been talking trash about Khali.
HHH said to ask Michaels, since everyone knows Michaels can’t lie. Now that was a funny line. Michaels corroborated HHH’s story. Khali gave Coach the big chop. Michaels said he didn’t know who wrote this garbage, but it’s the worst debacle since Katie Vick. HHH agreed, but said no one wrote it because they’re on strike. This segment had a few funny lines, but overall was a miss.
Beth Phoenix defeated Kelly Kelly almost instantaneously with the fisherwoman buster. Santino said that Steve Austin wouldn’t be at Raw. He brought a paper bag just in case so Austin could try to act his way out of it.
Snitsky beat Joey Munoz. Carlito was going to wrestle the jobber, but instead he decided to have Snitsky wrestle for him. Snitsky pinned him with a pump handle slam, and then laid out Carlito with a big boot and pump handle slam. When WWE wonders why their roster is so thin with marketable talent, they need to look to segments like this one. This made Carlito look like such an impotent, worthless goof for absolutely no reason. Snitsky would have got over just as well if he just beat the jobber without bringing out Carlito to be absolutely buried.
Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio beat Finlay and Mr. Kennedy. This was one of only two matches on the show that got any time. These four will be on opposite teams at the Survivor Series. The heels teased not getting along early. They went after Rey’s leg. Rey tagged Jeff. Jeff hit the whisper in the wind, but Finlay broke up the pin attempt. Rey then gave Kennedy the 619 and Jeff hit the swanton on Kennedy for the pin. This was a hot finishing sequence.
Maria told Santino that she heard Austin was there, but Santino said the odds of Austin showing up were the same as him winning an Oscar. So, Santino came to the ring. He addressed the director of the Condemned, who didn’t even get polite applause. Santino trashed the film. Austin then came out with a DVD of the Condemned. He asked Santino’s opinion of the film, and Santino trashed it again. Austin said he respected that, and offered to share a beer with Santino. Santino didn’t want to, because he prefers wine.
Austin offered him the DVD, and called it the best action film of the last 10 years. Now that’s comedy. Santino threw down the DVD and stepped on it. Austin gave him the stunner. He then drove out a beer truck and gave Santino a beer bath. Santino was great slipping around like Bobby Heenan. Austin doused Maria too. This segment was good overall, but went a little too long. Austin as a corporate shill hurts his character. Moreover, in 2007 Santino is a more entertaining character than Austin anyway.
Vince told Hornswoggle that he would be wrestling Great Khali at Survivor Series. DX then killed time by bringing out the fat oily guy and then girls from the Playboy Mansion. This was followed by a pair of brief matches.
Cody Rhodes defeated Trevor Murdoch first. Cody hit a bulldog, body slam and knee drop. Lance Cade tried to interfere but failed and Cody rolled up Murdoch for the pin. After a video package for Moolah, Super Crazy and Jim Duggan beat Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. Crazy and Duggan said “si” and “ho” back and forth, apparently for comedy. Crazy won with a rollup in no time at all.
HHH and Shawn Michaels beat Umaga and Randy Orton. The heels worked over HHH, who tagged Michaels. Michaels hit a flying forearm, inverted atomic drop and elbow off the top, but was cut off by Umaga. The heels then worked over Michaels, who tagged HHH. HHH hit a face buster, spine buster and went for the pedigree, but Umaga gave him the Samoan spike. Orton went for the RKO, but HHH avoided it and tagged Michaels. Michaels immediately hit sweet chin music on Orton for the pin. This was a good conclusion to the show as far as the match and Survivor Series build.
Final Thoughts:
This show did nothing for me. It was intended to be a lighthearted fun show with a couple major returns, but was primarily built around a seemingly interminable series of goofy comedy segments. There have been worse editions of Raw this year, and more destructively booked editions. But this was a perfect illustration of why so much of the traditional pro wrestling audience has left the WWE’s product in the past five years. There is a serious disconnect between WWE’s idea of entertainment and the historical appeal of professional wrestling.
posted by Todd Martin at 12:12 AM
5 Comments:
this was a perfect illustration of why so much of the traditional pro wrestling audience has left the WWE’s product in the past five years.
Yep, sounds about right.
I've been generally disinterested in Raw for months now, with Jericho's return the only thing that's piqued my interest lately. I felt like watching some today, just out of curiosity, and was lucky enough to tune in right as Jeff was making his way out for the tag match. That and the Austin segment were all I got to see, and the match was exactly the kind of thing I would want to see.
Reading the report, it doesn't seem I missed anything I'd really care to see otherwise. The tag match featured three of the only people I'm interested at all in on the entire WWE roster (and Rey, who's always at least fun to watch). That's pretty bad when it was a cross brand match.
Completely off-topic side note: I just glanced up at Sportscenter and saw the top ten NFL plays from this week, and it's a shame Shaun Rogers was only #3. That was the most entertaining 30 seconds of football in recent memory for me.
Tag match you saw, Santino and the main event were the only highlights of the show, so you had good luck.
Yeah, that Shaun Rogers play was awesome. I wish he had caught it further back on the field just to see him rumble another 10 yards.
What really bothered me about this show was how we had Shawn Michaels doing nothing but (largely bad) comedy and then they want us to pay $40 to settle this blood feud with Orton. You just cannot take the feud seriously after watching a show like that, which is too bad because they have a pretty effective storyline going otherwise. When they do comedy, it needs to be limited to the nondraws, save for the occasional one-liner. But you cannot have your money feuds built around comedy and expect the audience to care.
Let me see if I get this - WWE wanted to wow everyone at the start of the November ratings period with a show built around characters/bits original during the Clinton Administration. Why not just replay Raw episodes from the late 90s and call it day? Nothing new, nothing interesting.
Explain how the DX "Suck It" routine was hip back when we were all getting jiggy with it. Now it's supposed to be still be cool? Ugh.
Santino is clearly bringing the ass whip right now and is the current Raw MVP. I acutally laughed at the paper bag joke.
As for "Big Baby" Shaun Rogers - the play of the NFL year (I say as a Lions fan). No matter Detroit's record at the end of the season, it's once again fun being a fan of the Honolulu Blue and Silver.
Todd, keep up the good work.
- Matt in Anchorage
ONCE AGAIN, The WORLD's Greatest TAG TEAM gets CLOWNED again! I mean I am fine that it was against Super Crazy but there was no much it was a fluke. Not only that, he was tagged with the BIGGEST fluke of them all in Hacksaw Jim Duggan. I mean please. I rather see a worthless wrestler like Duggan getting jobbed then Carlito or the World's Greatest Tag Team.
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