Genuine RAW Review - June 8, 2009

As usual for any post-PPV show, we get a quick glimpse of Sunday nights Extreme Rules event. Then we get right into a promo from the NEW WWE Champion, Batista. First of all, I have to say that Batista is just not an interesting character anymore. The guy has two modes: calm and cool champion, or "rawr I want belt." Batista defeating Randy Orton at Extreme Rules is a decision I don't agree with, partly because I just did not want to see Batista walk out as champion, partly because Batista had an injury. The WWE knew about this injury for three weeks apparently, yet still had Batista demolish Randy Orton and become champion. It just ruins Orton for me that much more, although someone did raise a good point that Orton's character is about using Priceless to help him out, and without them he isn't meant to be on the same level as the likes of Batista. Still, though, Orton should have walked out as champion following some shenanigans instead of Batista walking out, especially when the guy is injured.

But this isn't an Extreme Rules review. Back to RAW. So Batista cuts a quick promo about him taking the belt from Orton is only the beginning, and Orton interrupts The Animal. After a slow... slow saunter, all three members of Legacy hit the ring. Batista does his best to fight back, but a chair shot to his left arm takes him down. I would be lying if I said the beatdown on Batista didn't look great. Orton Pilmanizing Batistas arm and then just grabbing it and snapping it looked great from the camera angles they showed. And now our WWE Champion is out of action, being taken away in an ambulance.

Kofi Kingston vs William Regal: Not a bad match, could have gone on longer I believe. William Regal heeling it up by saying a Jamaican shouldn't be a United States Champion, but that HE (a wrestler from Blackpool, England) would be the savior for the fans was good. Hopefully the two get some more time with eachother as I would like to see what they can pull off in a 10-15 minute match.

Randy Orton says he is cashing in his rematch clause for the belt, and that either Batista shows up or he forfeits the match AND the belt. Always a nice heel tactic, and it just makes Orton look like an even bigger dick.

Kelly Kelly vs Maryse: It was an okay match I suppose. Nothing to orgasm over. The whole point was to build up a Maryse/Mickie James match from what I could tell. Note: Mickie James, do not do commentary again. She wasn't bad during her whole psycho heel role with Trish upon her debut, but as a face.... ehhhh. At least she corrected Michael Cole by reminding him Maryse is the DIVAS Champion, not the Womens. Maryse is a nice little cocky bitch I must say, and I mean that as a compliment.

Speaking of Maryse, her segments with The Miz, though scarce, are just superb. Not only does Maryse have the whole "Im too good for you/Im not interested in you" act down pat with her little facial expressions and body language, but The Miz is just an absolute pro. He has this obnoxious slash arrogant heel shtick down perfect. "I'm... AWESOME!" Yes you are, Miz. Yes. You. Are. Him doing the whole kiss-kiss thing in the air to Maryse with her just acting repulsed is another great treat with these two. The Miz is going to be a GREAT big time player for the WWE one day. Coming from someone who used to think the guy was useless and uninteresting, that is saying something.

Chavo Guerrero, Jamie Noble, and THE Brian Kendrick vs Festus, Goldust, and Santino: You HAVE to love Festus. I know the gimmick is a little corny, but he just pulls it off so incredibly well. And pairing him with GOLDUST? I fucking love the golden wonder. I hope Festus, Goldust, and Hornswoggle get a few of their own segments similar to BookDust got years ago. That said, I must go on record by saying that I would have loved a Festus and Kendrick teaming so much. Just having Kendrick use a wrestler that is really a face to the crowd and making him do his dirty work, having Kendrick walk around with a bell around his neck to ring when he so pleases... Oh man. I would have cared SO much more for Kendrick if that team was formed. But then there is Santino. A guy who I used to tune into RAW for, I am now getting sick of. Maybe now that his "feud" with Vickie is over he'll become good once again, because I was seriously getting sick and tired of seeing Santino make oinking noises again and again. Anyways... This match wasn't really anything you had to see. Santino got the win in the end.

John Cena vs The Miz: The Miz cut a nice promo before the match, and I totally marked for the "He may not be Tim Allen, but ladies and gentleman... It's TOOL TIME!" line. Seriously. Give Miz time every week. NEVER have him miss a show. This "match" just proves The Miz is 7 times the wrestler than Cena. Well... He is. He beat Cena for the 7th time this week. Oh, AND he beat The Big Show! I know. Miz is the new Giant Killer. I'm rather upset that the WWE are continuing the Show/Cena feud. Having them in a Submission Match at Extreme Rules was such an absurd decision, and I am just not interested in them feuding. Although, maybe now that Miz just went berzerk with the steel chair over Shows head, the WWE will turn it into a three way feud? I would actually enjoy that. Have Miz be the guy that Cena and Show aren't really worried about until he does something to get their attention. I wouldnt expect Miz to WIN in the end, but it would give him a huge rub for hanging with the big boys for a bit.

Matt Hardy vs MVP: I might be in the minority, but I don't much care for MVP as a face, and you could tell the crowd really didn't on RAW either. His gimmick is just best suited for a heel, as are other gimmicks out there (another blog for another day). MVP gunning after the WWE title could either be good or boring, depending how the WWE runs with it. I can't see him getting involved JUST yet, so maybe they'll just have him remain in the midcard until a little space opens up for him to get a quick two month feud with Orton in. As for this match, it wasn't anything amazing. I haven't cared for Matt Hardy since his initial V1 gimmick, and when he first turned heel again this year I still didn't care at first. But then I saw him one week and immediately thought, "Damn. I like Matt again." It seems WWE is taking that away now, though. Moving him to RAW was a mistake I must say, but they had to seperate the Hardy Boys so the feud could end so I can understand the decision. I just hope the man gets a bit of a push once his injury is 100% better. Let him continue with the cast, though. MVP wins with the Playmaker, by the way.

Damn, Vickie. Despite the hate the woman may get on the internet, I LOVE her character. She gets heat like nobodies business, and her overacting at times is just great. I just HATE that the WWE, for the past few weeks, have been going along with this "lol she fat oink oink like a piggy cuz piggies is fat too," crap. Okay, she isn't as thin as Kelly Kelly, but she isn't Rikishi levels of fat either. It just became pathetic seeing Santino go "OINK OINK!", and then Jerry Lawler making the "funny" joke of "I got flulike symptons" for the "Vickie is a piggy so he gots SWINE FLU from her!!!!" joke was just bad. Her quitting as GM, apparently to be around her kids more (which I think is a good move on her part), is something I wish didn't have to happen. I love her playing the GM role. Another reason why I wish it didn't happen was so that Edge didn't have to come out and just verbally beat the ever loving shit out of her. I mean, I know Vickie deserves some comeuppance for being such a bitch, but wow WWE. Edge just laid into her to the point where it went from "Yeah! Show her Edge!" to "Um... Okay... You can stop now..." That was just a classless segment. They could have just done with Edge admitting he used her for her power to become champion and that he wants a divorce. They didn't need to throw in the "thank god we didn't have sex/kissing you made me throw up/people thought you were my mom you shebeast" stuff. I just feel bad that Vickie, as a person, had to put up with all of that, even if she was okay with it. Vickies overacting at the end saved the segment for me, though. Some think it was just too over the top, but she just get verbally shot in the baby maker and is now going through a divorce. Her losing her mind like that and just screaming "Noooooooooooo!" is more than an acceptable reaction in my books.

Carlito and Primo Colon vs Priceless: I'll be honest. I would care A LOT more about Dibiase and Rhodes gunning for, and eventually winning, the Tag Team Titles if it wasn't for one thing: They are nothing more than Randy Ortons version of the Edge Heads. The team was A LOT better before they got together with Orton. Now all they do is take beatings from Ortons current nemesis, help him conduct beatdowns, or run in to save his ass from a beating. The team is just not interesting in the least bit anymore. This match was not anything special, either. The only thing that was interesting was seeing Priceless actually do something that DIDN'T involve Randy Orton.

Randy Orton comes out for his title match with Batista... And he gets a huge surprise once the ref reaches an 8 count for the count out for Batista. Camera shot of the backstage area. We see the ambulance backing up. The backdoors of the ambulance open and...

Triple H is back on RAW! The Game walks down the hallway, sledgehammer in hand, and Priceless react accordingly by getting two steel chairs. Triple H makes his entrance into the arena and takes both Dibiase and Rhodes out with ease. From here, the beatdown on Orton is wonderful. This is how their WrestleMania match should have ended, following a ref bump of course. The crowd was just redhot for Triple H's return, too. They were chanting "Pedigree! Pedigree!" once the two were done fighting in the crowd and got back into the ring. Triple H gets the big face pop for taking out the dick Orton, who just got the crowd to hate him more after taking Batista out at the beginning of the show. I can see why Batista might have walked out as champion last night: it allows Orton to just beat the ever loving piss out of the guy, leading to the ambulance scene, thus leading to this entire shpeal right here. I'm sure it could have been done with Orton retaining, though. Orton retains, cuts a promo on Batista, Batista interrupts to say he wants a rematch, beatdown and 'arm breaking', same setup for the rest of the show, except you have Orton say that "Vickie is enacting Batista's rematch TONIGHT!" instead of saying "Im envoking my rematch clause for the belt."

My only concern is that I was getting tired of Triple H and Orton before, and I don't want to see it happen again. They need to put the nail in the coffin of this feud and have it end for good. I'm sure there are others out there who are sighing and rolling their eyes at a Triple H return, but considering how bad RAW has been lately, he could be a nice change of pace for the brand. I don't expect him to suddenly turn RAW back into a must see show or anything, but if it means making Orton an interesting character again and having an interesting main feud on the brand, then I'll take it, especially when the only reason I feel I should tune into RAW for is The Miz and sometimes the Womens division, barring Santina.

With next weeks RAW being the Three For All (three hour RAW, all three brands, all three main belts on the line), I expect an Orton/Triple H match to officially crown a WWE Champion, since we really didn't get any clearcut decisions concerning that this week. I expect Orton to win, maybe hold the belt after one PPV match with Triple H, then dropping it at SummerSlam or something. At least, I would like to see it happen like that, just to close the book on Orton vs Triple H. Also next week, we get to see the Smackdown! World Heavyweight Champion and the ECW Champion defend their belts, so I will definitely be tuning in for those matches, what with Smackdown! and ECW being miles ahead of RAW in levels of interest.

All in all, I don't think this RAW was as bad as the past several weeks have been. The opening beatdown was good, the Vickie/Edge segment was memorable (though not really a good thing), The Miz continues to be awesome, and it looks like the Divas division is getting back on track after being shoved to the side for the incredibly horrid Santina/Vickie "feud". I would give this show half a thumb up, because star ratings are just so last decade.