THE BAD
So the Night of Champions tournament was a good idea, and it presented The Miz and MVP as talents worthy of competing in the main event picture on Raw, but overall it said to those two respective talents "not yet." Although The Miz looked 100 times better in his outing against Cena last night than he did on PPV, 2 consecutive loses to Cena shows that The Miz is not ready to be competing for The WWE Title. As for MVP? He was all but squashed by Triple H last night, which does him no good at all as he attempts to take the next step up in his career on Raw. The booking of the entire MVP/Triple H bout was terrible. MVP was getting the better part of Triple H, a guy who was beaten up badly on PPV just 24 hours prior, throughout the entire match, only to lose the bout after a sudden pedigree. MVP hit Triple H with all of his best offense, and still could not put The Game away. Yet HHH hits 2-3 moves followed by a pedigree and picks up the win? WWE all but buried MVP in this match last night. Creative needs to give him something, and I’m talking very quickly, in the way of a momentum boost or they run the risk of completely deflating a top player on Raw.
As I said before, the special guest host of Raw is a good idea, but it must be booked correctly. There’s one major problem I see in this concept that I fear will be exposed sooner rather than later. For the special guest host idea to work, the host must ALWAYS be someone who is either currently working in the pro wrestling business, or has worked in the business in the past, like a wrestling legend or manager. Why would it ever make sense to have someone book a wrestling show who does not work in the pro wrestling business? Would it ever make sense to have Miley Cyrus manage the Chicago Cubs? No. So then why would it ever make sense to have someone like Seth Rogen book Monday Night Raw? We have to believe that the guest host follows the business closely enough to have a significant impact on its direction on a weekly basis. It makes sense to have guys like Batista and The Million Dollar Man guest host, they have personal agendas that the audience can relate to. But to have an actor, or a musician, or someone who is completely separate from the business come in and start booking a show makes no sense and will become ridiculous after its first or second attempt on live television.
Mark Henry does not belong in the main event picture on Monday Night Raw. I’m not sure if debuting Henry on the brand by having him beat Randy Orton suggests that he will be in the main event picture, but it’s not the right move if that’s what WWE intends to do. Henry has the same effect that Big Show has, and if Big Show does not cut it as a main event player, then neither will Henry. The World’s Strongest Man worked as a champion on ECW because it’s a lesser show, but he does not belong at the top of WWE’s flag ship show. Here’s to hoping that last night was merely an introduction, and not an implication that Henry is going to be a top player on Raw.
THE WRESTLING
Night of Champions Tournament Match – HHH vs. MVP: What else needs to be said about this match that I didn’t cover in The Bad section? This was a terrible way to book MVP, and succeeded in NOT making him look like a main event worthy competitor, but more so a schmuck who was lucky to ever have won the US Title. Out of a possible 9 Stars, I give this opening match 4 Stars.
Unified Tag-Team Championship Match – Chris Jericho & Edge (c’s) vs. Carlito & Primo: This was a great TV tag team match. I really like the fact that Edge and Jericho are the Unified Tag Team Champions, and I think the combination of the two of them can make for some exciting tag matches as well as what I hope will eventually be a great feud between both of them down the line. WWE needs to slowly build this one, and if they do it right, the results can be enormous. The audience would be able to enjoy quality tag matches, watch Edge slowly turn face, and then witness a potentially great feud between him and Jericho. My big fear here, however, is that The Colons are now going to be all but finished on Raw. Here’s to hoping they stay in the tag title mix, or at least have a strong presence on Raw. 6.5 Stars.
Night of Champions Tournament Match – The Miz vs. John Cena: The silver lining in this match is that The Miz looked MUCH better than he did against Cena at "The Bash." This was actually a very good wrestling match, albeit predictable. I of course hate the fact that WWE had the opportunity, yet again, to put over fresh faces in the tournament yet decided to go with Triple H vs John Cena as the number one contender’s match next week, but at least The Miz came out of the bout looking like he had a fighting chance at the belt as opposed to MVP earlier in the night. 7 Stars.
Diva’s Championship #1 Contender’s Match – Kelly Kelly vs. Mickie James vs. Beth Phoenix vs. Rosa Mendez: This was a surprisingly good fatal four-way match that showcased all 4 Divas really well. It’s good to know that Gail Kim is on her way to Raw as she can really help the struggling division, and I look forward to the potential of Mickie James, Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix and Maryse mixing it up for the title. 5.5 Stars.
US Title Match – Big Show vs. Kofi Kingston (c): Wow, Big Show can’t even beat Kofi Kingston? What a shame. It’s time for Show to hang up the boots. I don’t see what else WWE can do with him at this point. Hopefully Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne can give Kofi some good competition for the US Title as Matt Hardy and William Regal are no longer on Raw. 3 Stars.
Gauntlet Match – Randy Orton vs. Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger and Mark Henry: I liked this match. It was a great idea to introduce 3 of the 5 newly acquired Raw talents in gauntlet fashion so that we would be surprised by each one, and I think the booking of the match made sense. It was logical to see Swagger back out of fighting Orton as he’s a coward and would most likely want to remain on Orton’s good side. It also made sense for Henry to get the win over Orton as the champ had already been weakened by the PPV match he had the night before and by Evan Bourne earlier in the match. Bourne looked great in the bout, as always, and I look forward to seeing what he can contribute to the Raw brand. 6 Stars.
Overall, this was a solid show in my opinion whose downfall was that the Night of Champions tournament was predictable and regrettably unfortunate as the same recycled main event will now headline the PPV no matter who wins the number one contender’s bout on Raw next week. Out of a possible 9 stars, I give last night’s WWE Raw broadcast 6 stars.
Nick’s Notes:
– I think Maryse is a robot. But like, one that you can at least have sex with.
– Lawler called Edge and Jericho "Edge and Christian." See, even The King wants to see that tag team kick some ass again.
– What’s happening to Beth Phoenix? I fear she’s going down the Victoria path.
– Where’s Santino been lately? Now that Goldust is off Raw, Santino would be a welcomed bit of comedy.
Thanks for reading, and remember to send any and all feedback to VOWNick@gmail.com!
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
