Did I just hear glass breaking? Stone Cold Steve Austin returns to Raw tonight! Also, John Cena has more words for The Rock. Read on for my thoughts on this blockbuster edition of Monday Night Raw!
It's hard to believe that Triple H has been in WWE for 16 years. In a way, it's hard to believe that there are many people still wrestling from the Attitude Era. Pro athletes don't generally stay in their business of choice that long.
It's surreal seeing The Undertaker, Triple H, and Stone Cold on the same show. It's a time machine back to when I started watching wrestling in 1998.
No Holds Barred. I'm ok with that, because we're probably not getting a rematch anyway. Speaking of rematches, another flashback moment is remembering that Taker and The Game faced off 10 years ago at Mania.
There's not much left of Nexus. Wow. They should get as much as they can out of these guys before they theoretically have them laid out by Orton and Nexus disbands.
Heck of a start to the show. And we're only 12 minutes in!
I hear the complaints coming in already if Orton wins after a 3-on-1 beatdown. It'd be kind of weird if Punk just had Otunga and/or Ryan in his corner after starting with, what, 6 underlings when he took over Nexus.
I think it's smart to do Orton-Punk with no cornermen, because the idea is that Orton will have the perfect opportunity and have Punk right where he wants him.
I guess there's no reason for me to make a news post about Miz "boycotting" Raw if they mentioned it on-air!
They're really doing Del Rio-Christian already!? I would have saved that for at LEAST Smackdown. I was actually thinking up an angle where Del Rio could pay off a judge to get a restraining order against Chrsitian and/or hire some midcard wrestlers (who aren't doing anything else important) to protect him. Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks, Chavo Guerrero, and Drew McIntyre would be my picks. Add Brodus too I suppose. Then add Christian to either a Triple Threat at Extreme Rules or a separate Del Rio title defense down the line.
Anyway, I wonder how many of these fans recognize Brodus from NXT. It's actually kind of disappointing that he's debuting on Raw seeing as how he still has a good way to go in my book to being at that level.
I'm pretty sure that there was a "bitch" in Rock's tweet but I can see why they wouldn't mention that. Good way to promote the angle online.
I like the Sin Cara commercial. Pretty cool look to it.
PWInsider.com was right. Sunny's in the HoF this year. I seem to remember there being some kind of friction between her and Shawn Michaels that might not be totally reconciled. And now they're both going in on the same night!
Update: She and Shawn had a relationship in the mid-'90s (a little before I started watching in '98), and there were rumors that she was cheating on him with Bret Hart. Michaels made reference to his on air, saying something to Bret about him having "Sunny days". This led to a backstage fight between Hart and Michaels, who legitimately hated each other. It's still wild knowing that those two buried the hatchet.
Nice segue to the Divas' match. Pretty clever.
Michael Cole's such a natural in his heel role.
That WrestleMania DVD looks very interesting. Now THAT'S an important moment in wrestling history.
WWE referencing Twitter, TMZ, and Jersey Shore is surreal in its own way. This is the company that didn't understand why Paul Burchill's pirate gimmick was getting over as a face because Vince McMahon didn't know about Pirates of The Carribean. System Of A Down was also a foreign concept to them when Paul Heyman wanted them to be associated with WrestleMania when he worked there.
Well here's someone I didn't expect to see back anytime soon. It's a pleasant surprise, though. I don't think we'll see him wrestle, but just boost the company by appearing in WrestleMania season.
Wait, JBL and Michael Cole didn't get along at all (on TV) when they were together on the Smackdown announce team. BUT, since Cole is a heel now, JBL has probably changed his mind on him.
Ahh, the old "someone else signs the contract so it works for them instead" swerve. I personally have absolutely no problem with that stipulation, though obviously it doesn't work in the "real world".
Obviously Cole vs. Lawler wasn't going to be a technical classic, so I'm ok with them spicing it up like this. It is kind of weird having Austin in such a relatively low spot on the card, but with Rock hosting, he doesn't need to have a big role.
The old "Stone Cold tricks someone and stuns them" routine I'm ok with too. Always worth a big pop. A little like Edge's spear or Orton's RKO. Obviously the guy shouldn't turn around (or trust Austin in this case), but it's one of those things that it's ok to overlook.
So I guess this was just a one-night thing from JBL. He did a good job.
I just noticed the sword from The Scorpion King on Rock's wall. Pretty cool.
I guess Swagger and Cole are in lines for Stunners in 4 weeks. I should have known not to have much faith in a big Swagger push. BUT Swagger can get his heat back in time to be taken seriously for a (possible) win in July's MITB.
There better be a hell of a payoff for this Sheamus losing streak. Like "he goes crazy, gets a new edge, and tears through some people on the way to being a legitimate threat in the main event scene".
Or maybe a move to Smackdown after he quits next week. Why not both?
I wonder how much more we'll hear from HBK in the weeks to come.
WWE's really on the ball tonight with the hooks to keep viewers after the break. TNA's been doing this, too and it pays off.
Lawler didn't make a quip about Vickie looking like Snooki? I'm shocked.
Ziggler to Raw, Sheamus (possibly) to Smackdown. WWE's not waiting for the draft obviously. I'm ok with that, though obviously it devalues the draft.
I hope these two get in Money In The Bank. Both of them have potential as main eventers sooner rather than later.
Snooki and Vickie in the same segment next week could be one for the record-books.
Ziggler's come a long way from his last run on Raw, and even longer from the Spirit Squad.
Vickie vs. Trish works too (Don't get your hopes up for a full-time return) but having her in a segment with Snooki is just too interesting to pass up.
This crowd is thankfully hot for a stellar show tonight.
Before anyone jumps on the "Cena's getting booed because he's stale/pushed down our throats/PG" bandwagon, even a good contingent of fans who like Cena prefer Rock. Not that those reasons also don't factor in.
Cena can work a mic for sure. This is why he's where he is and a number of others aren't. But of course some jaded fans still boo him. Hey, it's their right. I used to do that too in my more rebellious "anti-establishment" days. I'm not crazy about some of the "poopy" stuff either, for the record.
Nice swerve with Miz, who can also work a mic and a crowd. This is fantastic stuff going into Mania. This show was really good, even though there were parts they could have done better.
That's it for tonight! Tomorrow I'll be back for the Season 5 Premiere of NXT, which perhaps not surprisingly wasn't mentioned on Raw.
No comments:
Post a Comment