The show starts with Jerishow celebrating the SD win at the PPV. Jericho's hugging that trophy like it's the Stanley Cup, which is hilarious because the trophy means very little in the big picture. Jericho was bragging while Show pointed out that he did what he did because Teddy Long decided to give him a title shot at Undertaker's World Title. Oh, sneaky. I don't want to see Show vs. Taker again, but what can ya do? Vince loves the big guys. Jericho was pissed about him not getting a shot, which brought out the guest hosts: Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. I know of Busch, but I don't watch NASCAR. They weren't great on the stick. Busch tried to heel it up by ripping on Buffalo saying they haven't made the playoffs (in the NFL) since Hulkamania. That's not true. They made it in 1999, but they haven't made the Super Bowl since the 1993 season. Anyway, I've gone off topic. They say that at the end of the show they'd name John Cena's challenger at Survivor Series while Jericho will face Kofi Johnson! Or Kingston. What a nice screw-up. I love when people say they're a big fan and then they butcher a name. That will never get old.
Kofi Kingston d. Chris Jericho
Reason #4,871 to love Chris Jericho: He puts people over. This match was a lot of fun. As much as I like both guys (Kofi was my #3 performer on all of Raw and my Jericho appreciate is well known), I have to admit that they had poor chemistry at times. That's probably because they haven't worked together much. You could tell there were some minor communication issues, but they got it together to have a strong finish. I think it worked well with Jericho hitting the Codebreaker, then Kofi getting his foot up. That set up the finish with Jericho bitching at the ref while Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise for the win. This is how WWE books stuff. Jericho goes over Kingston one night, then Kofi goes over the next. I have no beef with Kofi winning here, but they do it far too often and it doesn't have the impact that they think it does. Go Kofi Johnson! I mean Kingston.
Following the match, with Kofi celebrating up the ramp we saw Randy Orton chuck him off the stage and onto the side metal part of the cage. I thought it was going to be some kind of throwaway segment. I'm glad I was wrong.
This Friday on Smackdown: More on Batista attacking Rey. I knew the heel turn was coming, but I think it's a bit rushed. I'll write more about it after seeing SD this week, though.
Backstage, Orton blamed Kofi for losing at Bragging Rights because he chased off Legacy. Then Cody along with Ted came in to show Randy the new race car, NASCAR style, they got for him. It had Randy's face on it. Randy stared and stared and stared some more.
Backstage, the hosts were talking to Eve. Swagger came in, said he should face Cena and then Miz did the same. They both argued. Similar to their act when Kofi had the US belt. It was okay.
Before the next match, Santino's selling of the paparazzi taking his picture was better than most of the selling of moves that John Cena did in the Ironman match. I wish I was serious. Santino rules.
Melina & Santino d. Team Jobber: Chavo & Jillian
Predictable with the face side winning. I love Santino's offense. The man is gold, Jerry. Gold! Melina botched the finish with Jillian. Stop trying to do Amazing Red's Infrared move if you can't do it right. This isn't the first time. She then did her leg split thing to cover her. That's nice. Post match, Horny came out in DX gear again and he was served with lime green papers. Lawler told us that it was a cease and desist order from DX. Angle of the year? No.
If you're counting, two matches in the first hour. One of them went two minutes.
In ring, instead of the new WWE Champion (until he loses it at Survivor Series because there has to be a title switch every month apparently) we got Dibiase & Rhodes. They wanted to face John Cena. Cena came out. This was unintentionally hilarious because Cena made the claim that they haven't earned it while also saying in the same promo that the fans wanted something fresh. Keep that in mind later on. Cena the hype man introduced the next match.
Mark Henry & MVP aka Black Dudes in Red d. Legacy aka Baby Oil Boys Club
Just a refresher here. Mark Henry and Cody Rhodes were useless parts of Team Raw a night earlier while MVP wasn't good enough to be on the team and Ted Dibiase wasn't good enough either. Way to book people strong. The same Legacy team that made DX submit in a tag match a month ago lost in about four minutes here. The pinfall was weak. MVP had him in a sunset flip, Henry (barely) hit him with a clothesline and Ted tried fighting out, but failed. Not a good match at all.
After the match, Orton stared his way out there to bitch about not getting a title shot. Everybody booed him. The man is getting some awesome heel heat right now. He continued to bitch when Kofi Johnson/Kingston appeared on the screen. He was standing on Randy's car. If somebody stands on your new ride would you watch a video wall or would you confront them? Randy Orton, the dangerous viper, would watch. And he did. He watched Kofi dent it, scratch it and pour orange paint (I think that's what it was) on it. The crowd loved it. They are big time into Kofi as they should be. He's great. I'm pleasantly surprised that he was featured as much as he was on this show. Maybe my prediction for him being elevated in the Roster Evaluation will hold true! I hope. No more accent for Kofi either. That's fine. His dad, Magic Johnson, would be proud. (No, that's not really his dad.)
The Buffalo Bills were there. Of course they were. Worst 3-3 team in the NFL. Good for them.
Evan Bourne d. The Miz by countout
Eve was guest ring announcing. Let's just say that she looks better than she announces. I was really looking forward to a good match here. It was good for a bit, but it only went about four minutes. Jack Swagger came out mid match, then cut a promo on Eve saying she was looking at him. This pissed off Miz. He confronted him, then Bourne jumped on them and scurried back in to beat the count, which was not stopped when Bourne jumped on them. Apparently the Eve-Miz thing is some long term thing. Not sure where it's headed, but it's something to keep an eye on. And so are Eve's legs, by the way. By the way, Evan Bourne is still the performer that is booked the worst on Raw. Congrats Evan.
Next week's Raw guest hosts: Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. I can't wait for all the screw-ups!
Sheamus d. Jamie Noble
Raw signed Sheamus. Who exactly signed somebody that has only been on TV for about six months? No idea. His look is so different from the norm, but apparently he's well liked by guys like HHH and HBK, so that's why the move happened. I like him. Reminds me a lot of Finlay (when he was younger) and he's got good potential as a serious kind of wrestler. The match was a squash. By the way, my evaluation of Seamus is going in the ECW roster evaluation to be posted on Monday.
Triple H d. Big Show
This was actually a lot of fun. I think they realized it could be a bad match, so they added in gimmicks of having lumberjacks (oh no, Chavo and Primo might beat up Big Show!) and John Cena as the ref. For this match, I'll call him Hunter the Raw Avenger instead of Hunter the McMahon Family Avenger. Jericho bailed through the crowd as soon as the Raw guys came out, which was hilarious. It was a vintage HHH vs. Big Show match. Things broke down about 10 minutes in when Show had HHH pinned, then Cena faked an injury on the third count. That cued up all the Raw guys to hit their finishers on Show. Kool-Aid splashed him in the corner, Bourne hit his Shooting Star Press and my boy Santino did his snake motions, then almost ate a chokeslam except Kofi Johnson/Kingston gave Show the Trouble in Paradise kick to stun him. Eventually Michaels hit a superkick (he didn't hit it very well) and the Raw Avenger gave him the Pedigree for the win.
Post match, Busch & Logano announced the main event at Survivor Series would be Cena defending the title against Triple H and Shawn Michaels because they haven't done a Triple Threat for a couple months (Orton vs. Cena vs. The Avenger) and they have to do another one, I guess. Remember Cena hinting at new faces in the title picture? So much for that idea. Ah well, at least Michaels is in it.
------------------------------------------
I watched this show and I felt very pleased with how Kofi Kingston was used. Give me Kofi vs Orton on PPV please. I won't even care if Orton wins. I just want it to get significant time and to continue going forward.
I don't hate Cena vs. HHH vs. HBK because I'm such a huge HBK fan. However, have we had a PPV this year when at least one of Cena or HHH weren't in a title match? You don't have to email me about it. It's not important. It's just sad that they have to keep going to that same well over and over.
The guest hosts weren't very good. It's not surprising. Race car drivers aren't exactly the kind of people you'd expect to be comfortable speaking in front of 15,000 people in a wrestling ring. By the way, I really don't need to see Undertaker vs. Big Show ever again. Please change the match. Come on. I said please.
Three Stars of the Show
1. Kofi Kingston – This is the star making feud Raw needs.
2. Chris Jericho – Put Kofi over clean and was great with the guest hosts as usual.
3. Randy Orton – He was great. Of course he was. He had to stare a lot.
Qua 11 Nov 2009 - 23:13