Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

|

-Batista is convincing when he's celebrating a title win. The funny face he made the camera really drove home a sense of "relief" that he had finally beat Orton and regained the World Title. It made the crash from the Legacy attack all the more dramatic because Batista seemed so content and happy before the attack. When he was loaded onto the stretcher and then complained the strap to hold him in place was too tight, it was a nice touch of realism. Then when he said, "Please get my title," that was another nice touch driving home the value a wrestler like him places on the top prize in WWE...

-I like that this was a non-title match. It's so easy to just make any TV match a title match without regard for whether it makes sense that the challenger would be due a title shot, and in this instance it made sense to give Regal a non-title match, not a title match...

-Mickey did a good job when the camera was on her making sure she kept her on the match instead of looking at the announcers. It made it seem like she was glued to the action. The pacing and energy of her commentary, though, wasn't quite where it needed to be...

-Miz wore a t-shirt with Cena's name on it and a circle and red slash through it. That would be a top three merchandise seller if WWE put it for sale online and at all merch stands. It'd also drive more pro-Cena t-shirt sales from Cena fans. I respect Cena for letting Miz speak the truth about his fanbase.

-Miz-Show-Cena Angle: Looks like a set-up for a three-way at the next PPV with Cena, Miz, and Show. It's not a bad idea, as they can freshen up the Cena-Show situation with Miz interjected as an enemy of both who can add some energy to the situation. Miz may not be ready to be pushed as at Cena's level as an opponent, so with Show in the mix they can ease into it...

-Miz has been good in every area so far he needs to be. Now he just has to deliver a believable main event performance in a featured PPV match.

-After MVP won, they cut to a crowd shot and one person in an entire section of fans stood and cheered. It just drove home the point that they really messed with him badly over the past year. First, they put him in a long losing streak that had zero payoff or explanation. Then they began portraying him as a babyface in the sense that he was suddenly wrestling heels, but they never did anything to turn him. So he did nothing different except now he plays for cheers. WWE expects fans to embrace him suddenly with that kind of shoddy booking and character development? And now they're giving him clean wins over Hardy on Raw as a sign they want to elevate him, but they have yet to explain away him being the biggest loser in WWE for months and months not that long ago.

-The Edge promo berating and breaking up Vickie was just f'd up. What was the point? To degrade Vickie for her looks, insulting all non-Playboy centerfold candidates in WWE's audience (and the men who lower themselves to kiss them and sleep with them)? If it was supposed to solidify Edge as a heel, it didn't, as the crowd popped for his horrible heavy-handed insults of Vickie, who played her role like she was pitiful and deserved such treatment as opposed to standing up for herself and being strong. So she was pathetic, he was an ass, and the crowd cheered the jerk over the "fat lady." I don't get it. Everybody laugh at the fat lady? Really odd and degrading and inappropriate for much of their target audience, but at least it was at 10:30 ET.

-Next came Cena's backstage promo responding to Show and Miz earlier was really good. Too bad that target market for his earnest message and admirable moral values hopefully went to bed before the tasteless misogynistic segment that preceded it. So, really, what was the point? It is the best approach to mic work yet from Cena. Just a staright forward good guy who's not trying to be class clown or The Rock or Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan. He's being Rick Steamboat, and it might work on a show that didn't have the type of segment that preceded it.

-The tease of a seeming inevitable (unjust) title change or an amazing Batista comeback might have effectively kept viewers tuned in to the end, and the payoff of Triple H returning with great crowd heat was a satisfying payoff. The beatdown was intense, so where do they go from here? Are there any strong heels ready to step up and replace Orton after this beatdown of all three Legacy members? Or does Orton somehow get revenge? What could Orton do to top what he's done before? Where they go from here will be interesting. Where can they go?...

Read my full Raw Report exclusively as a PWTORCH VIP MEMBER.

-LISTEN TO MY POST-RAW "WADE KELLER HOTLINE" FOR FREE right now as part of a free seven day trial of a Wade Keller Hotline monthly subscription (normal price: $3.99 for 30-plus audio updates a month). sneak peek). Also get a free in-depth discussion on Randy Savage's place in WWE history as a free bonus this week.

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC & MMA NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.