A look at the incredible sgement between HBK, HHH and Undertaker, plus some thoughts from RAW.
When something needs building up and something needs attention who do you call!?
HBK Shawn Michaels.
Shawn’s efforts in supporting the Triple H and Undertaker segment this past week on RAW was nothing short of phenomenal!
For a match which didn’t hold much of my attention, it certainly does now. Shawn has the ability to use his status to develop a storyline. He pretty much got owned physically and verbally by Undertaker this past Monday all in the effort to make people believe that Undertaker is too powerful.
Since Shawn returned in 2002 he has been selfless in his attempts to create stars and moments for an industry at his characters expense. Apart from winning the World title upon his return he has always lost the big matches to help put other talent over.
I’ve said since the start of the Undertaker & Triple H rivalry that I didn’t believe Triple H was going to be the one who would end the streak of the Undertaker’s. However, this week on RAW by making Undertaker look too powerful and almost arrogant they seemingly have created that much needed doubt in the match. Could this be setup perfectly for Triple H to do the big upset? I still believe not but Shawn’s efforts have created an interest in a match which held hardly any in my opinion.
I still believe that the long term plan for Undertaker is to have him face John Cena next year with the chance of going 20-0. Whether he calls it a day there and returns to make it 21-0 at Wrestlemania 30 could be a possibility but I do believe that we won’t be seeing too many matches from the Undertaker in the future as he starts to wind down his career.
This week’s RAW was exactly what was expected, a heavy promo show which had all its eggs in one basket. It was a perfect go-home show for Wrestlemania and has finally setup some intrigue for the big event.
CM Punk and Orton had a great altercation to open the show and I still feel that their match could be the show stealer. Both are good workers and CM Punk is coming into his own as a classic heel character.
One segment which I have no interest in was the Snooki segment. As you may recall from my previous articles that I’m not a big fan of the match to start with and the segment seemed fairly predictable and generic, enough said.
Then we had the big altercation between John Cena, The Miz and The Rock. I still have a sinking feeling that this will end in tears for WWE fans as I’m not holding my breath that Cena and Rock will face each other, certainly not within the next few weeks. I could possibly see some programme being produced to involve him in the ring at Summerslam but I am unsure.
The segment with between these three was interesting as Miz continued to hold his own against two men who are very comfortable on the mic. We finally got to see Rock do something other than talk and the ending to the show was interesting. It teased a Cena heel turn again but I still have a sinking feeling this Sunday that Rock and Cena will be shaking hands, I sincerely hope it’s followed by a Rock Bottom but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Overall RAW did what it was designed to do and last week’s lacklustre effort has quickly been forgotten, Wrestlemania is this Sunday and we have some interesting matchups. I’m not expecting a classic Mania but there is more than enough talent on show to not have a bad one.
I will be writing another column in the upcoming days with my full match predictions and also to inform you of some interviews I’ve done recently if you’re interesting in hearing more of my thoughts.
In the meantime checkout the Wrestleslam Magazine Wrestlemania Special! This is the 2nd issue and there are some great articles to check out including a more in depth look at the Triple H and Undertaker matchup from yours truly! The magazine is now also available in a digital format for all you iPad users out there, and at a very small price so please check it out!
If you want to get in touch then please feel free to email me at beansontoastuk@msn.com and if you have Twitter then you can reach me on @BeansOnToastUK.
Martyn.
