This week's guest host is…Snoop Dogg
He came out in a pink Cadillac to a pretty big pop with the Bella twins and Eve. The ladies looked great with Eve looking especially hot. That girl cleans up well, doesn't she? With Mickie off Raw and Maria Menounos no selling my messages I need a new favorite woman on Raw. I'd say right now it's between Maryse, Eve and Melina although that important announcement can wait until Maryse comes back soon. Snoop did a good job. He mentioned the HHH/Cena match that we knew of, and then also announced Orton vs. Dibiase and Jericho vs. Michaels, which got me excited. He then did what every other host seems to do by bringing out DX.
The DX boys mentioned how white people like to talk Snoopese (yeah I made that up) by adding "izzle" to words. I'm not doing that. Michael Cole did plenty of it. It wasn't funny. It never is. DX made fun of themselves for being too white to do it. At least they know. They went over Team Smackdown. For Jericho they said they each beat him soundly at WrestleManias without mentioning that HHH totally buried him in the process. In mentioning Kane they brought up HHH's action with Katie Vick, who they didn't mention by name, but referred to her as being stiff. Hey WWE legal team, take down those videos or the Democrats might embarrass Linda. They mentioned Cryme Tyme was selling tickets in the parking lot (wasn't really funny) and being unable to remember Dolph's name. Then Hunter didn't know McIntyre or Escobar, which is a great way of burying a match due to the fact that they don't have enough big names on Smackdown. Michaels mentioned Vickie with Escobar and Hunter pointed out if you're going to sleep your way to the top it should be with somebody who weighs less than you. More inside jokes. I laughed at that one. Anyway, team Raw came out. They ran down the whole team. HHH called Mark Henry Kool-Aid, which got a laugh from Mark. Man, everybody in this company is stealing my material now. The highlight was HBK calling Jack the All-American American while saying American five times. HBK's comedy is usually very good. The other significant thing here was that Kofi spoke without his Jamaican accent as he tried to calm the team down. Triple H was like, "what happened to your Jamaican accent?" Then they just moved on. It was one of the funnier things on the show for sure. Triple H announced they'd be put through a test by taking on five guys from Raw.
Team Raw (Big Show, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston & Cody Rhodes) d. Team Jobbers on Raw (MVP, Primo, Masters, Chavo & Bourne)
Carlito is so far off the radar he can't even make Team Jobbers on Raw. Cody hit his Cross Rhodes finisher, Swagger slapped him in the back to tag in and he scored the pin. It went about three minutes. This entire opening, with one three minute match, took 25 minutes.
Orton and Dibiase talked backstage about Ted pinning him last week. The point of this was Orton was pissed about Ted pinning him last week and he warned him not to touch him or else he'd kick him out of Legacy.
Randy Orton d. Ted Dibiase
This was all about the expressions on their faces and it was fantastic. It was an angle rather than a match, so don't be fooled by the rating there. As an angle it was very effective. Orton bulled him by kicking him, shoving him and verbally abusing him. The fans wanted Ted to hit him. He refused. Orton taunted him to hit him. He refused again. I liked the camera work too. They focused in on their facial expressions and both guys did a good job of selling the importance of it. A "Teddy! Teddy!" chant even erupted, which was great. Orton won it with a RKO. Teddy's face turn begins right before his movie, The Marine 2, comes out in a couple months. This is Orton's next feud.
They aired a video package for the late Captain Lou Albano. This was cool and the crowd gave him a standing O when it was done. I almost forgot how great the Captain Lou song was. Good to hear that again. They busted out a Super Mario clip too! RIP Lou.
Backstage, Snoop was talking to the girls and they conveniently plugged his CD exactly when the camera was on them. Chavo showed up, Jillian showed up and Santino showed up. This is WWE's comedy trio every week on Raw with Santino being the funniest of them by far. Santino dressed as Charlie Brown was a funny sight gag because he thought it was Snoopy from the cartoons. It wasn't great like you'd expect from Santino. Snoop asked Eve to grab his bag. It was suggested that it was pot, so WWE put up a "Raw technical difficulties" graphic up with a photo of Cole hugging Hornswoggle. That was funny. Then they came back and we found out Snoop had lit up…scented candles. What a swerve. I know they trying for something great here, but it came out as just okay. When they cut to the announcers, Cole had his arm around King. It's Michael Cole being a vintage moron.
Hunter the McMahon Family Avenger d. John Cena
Michael Cole said this could be a WrestleMania event. It already has been. Ah well, at this point it's expected that he says stupid things all the time. This was an excellent match that was one of the best on Raw in 2009. I honestly can't remember the good TV matches from Raw this year. I remember the Smackdown ones more since there have been plenty. You know how you get to have a 20 minute match on Raw? You sleep your way to the top. Right, Hunter? I'm kidding. I think. I like that this had a big match feel to it, both guys really worked their asses off and they had great chemistry to boot. It's pretty rare to see guys kicking out of finishers multiple times in a TV match at the top of the second hour considering they only do that kind of thing at a big show like WrestleMania. I liked how it was booked evenly throughout. They each got long submissions on the other guy, they each hit finishers and had the other kick out. That's how babyface vs. babyface matches should be booked. They did a great job. I even think Cena did a good performance in making fans think this was his last time on Raw by showing remorse and nervousness on his face. I promise you I won't be complaining about a quality 20 minute match on free TV. It needs to happen more in WWE, especially on Raw.
If you're wondering why Cena's losing clean six days before the PPV it's probably because after he wins the belt on Sunday his next PPV title match will probably be against…shocker of shocks…Triple H. They made it clear that Orton gets no more title shots on Cena, so who else is going to be the next challenger?
The Miz d. Marty Jannetty
They mentioned Jannetty on Smackdown and they brought him in here. He's 47 and he looked it. Miz won in about four minutes.
Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 comes out today. I've read very good reviews. I'm not much of a gamer, but I might have to give it a look at some point.
We found out that at Bragging Rights it will be Melina, Gail and Kelly x2 vs. Michelle, Beth and Natalya. They're going for faces on Raw vs. heels on SD. That's why there's no Mickie James-Canton. It's cool. She will understand.
Melina d. Jillian
One minute and it was over. Chavo was out with Jillian because I guess they felt the need to combine the shitty divas match with the guest host embarrassing Chavo. Snoop ducked a clothesline, then hit a decent looking spear to take Chavo down. It was one of the greatest 150 pound spears you'll ever see. After the match, Horny came out dressed like a gangster and everybody (Snoop, Bella Twins, Eve, Gail & Kelly x2) with the highlight being when Horny dry humped Eve multiple times. What a lucky bastard. He was great here, honestly.
They showed an excellent video package on the Orton/Cena feud dating back to 2007. I'm actually looking forward to the match and this video helped. Got to love the video packages that WWE puts out.
They plugged the Bragging Rights card. I'll have a brief preview in the Talking Smack column, which will probably be posted Saturday in the AM. Still no word on if the 7 on 7 match is elimination style or first pinfall wins. I imagine it is first pinfall wins although it's not like we got any confirmation on that.
Smackdown this week has Undertaker vs. Punk in a Submissions match for the title. Punk's not winning.
Next week's guest hosts: NASCAR stars Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. I follow real sports, so I don't know who they are although I have heard of Busch. Cena's done some with him.
Predictable Main Event Brawl
There was no Jericho vs. Michaels. It was a tease. A big tease. Hopefully they do it on Smackdown (if HBK's there) or maybe next week. Jericho grabbed the microphone and all of Team Smackdown came out. Team Raw came out to counter them. They had a talk center ring. Excuse Me! Here's Vickie to say she's a consultant on Team Smackdown (that's a reach) and she doesn't want them fighting. Triple H said we don't listen to her, so let's fight. The show ended with everybody brawling in predictable fashion. It was okay. They had to rush everything because they were short on time, so it wasn't as effective as they probably wanted.
I guess the story is even though most of Team Raw hates eachother they will be an actual team in the match because they hate Smackdown that much more? That seems to be what they're going for. I'd expect more interactions on Smackdown this week too.
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That's one of the highest scores I've given Raw, I'm sure of it. They did a great job of putting together a thorough, complete show with one great match and some very effective promos while also busting out some good comedy for the most part. I was really happy with the Orton/Dibiase match/segment. It wasn't really a match, which is what was so great. Ted wanted to go nuts on him, but he refused and you know that it's coming after Orton drops the belt at Bragging Rights.
Snoop was a pretty good host. I think the promotion of the Bragging Rights matches was solid. I don't think that's going to mean a lot of PPV buys, though. Their PPV numbers are down all across the board and with UFC going on the night before, plus competition from the NFL and MLB playoffs (if it's still going on) they're going to have a tough time enticing viewers to watch this PPV. They certainly tried their best and I will give them credit for putting on a good show. I was a very pleased Raw viewer this week.
Three Stars of the Show
1. Triple H - He had a great match with Cena, he was funny in most of his segments and I like how he even made fun of himself at times. I haven't enjoyed a Triple H performance this much in a long time although I'm sure HHH haters are probably in full force since he was on about 40% of the show.
2. John Cena – Obviously the match with Hunter was a high point on the show.
3. (tie) Randy Orton – His heel heat is so great that fans wanted Dibiase to destroy him. It's a testament to how good he can be if he's given a fresh program that doesn't involve Cena or Hunter, which we've seen too many times.
3. (tie) Ted Dibiase – Played his role perfectly. The Jacksonville crowd definitely got behind him.
Qua 11 Nov 2009 - 22:50