WWE Raw Report

By: Todd Martin
Email: MartinT2007@lawnet.ucla.edu
Blog: toddwmartin.blogspot.com

Date: 04/09/07 from Bridgeport, CT.

The Big News: Raw’s streak is over, after a dull, poorly booked retread of a show.

Conclusive Finishes: 3 of 5.

Show Analysis:

Shane McMahon came out to start the show. He said that the McMahon name typically garners respect but lately it has been met with laughter. He said that he will bring respect back to the name, and challenged Lashley. Lashley came out to a much better reaction than last week, and Shane challenged him to a title match. Umaga then came out, but Shane told Umaga to return to the back and slapped Armando. Lashley suggested he put up his title against Shane’s hair, and Shane accepted.

Mickie James and Candice Michelle defeated Melina and Victoria. The heels worked over Candice, with Melina delivering a suplex and body slam. Victoria missed a somersault leg drop and Mickie tagged in. Mickie gave Victoria a huracanrana and gave Melina the Charlie Thesz press. Candice hit a spinning heel kick on Melina and Mickie hit the leaping implant DDT on Victoria for the pin. I’m glad they are going back to a feud with women that can go in Mickie and Melina. Backstage, Mick Foley arrived with a kid from Make-A-Wish, who was made honorary GM for the night.

Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade defeated Ric Flair and Carlito to earn a tag title shot at Backlash. Carlito alluded to Flair telling him off, and said that while it pissed him off at first now he realizes it was a good thing. He said they would win their match and earn a title match at Backlash. Cade and Murdoch worked over Flair, mostly brawling and using punches. Flair hit some chops and tagged Carlito. Carlito used a back drop, drop kick, knee lift and clothesline. However, he missed the springboard elbow and Cade and Murdoch used the high low for the clean pin. Carlito was angry afterwards and left annoyed with Flair. Evidently WWE is progressing into full burial mode for Carlito.

Backstage, Coach wanted to say something to Shane, but Shane wasn’t having any of it. He wouldn’t let Coach get a word in and Coach just gave up and left. Elsewhere, Shawn Michaels said nice guys don’t finish first in WWE, and that’s where he wants to be. He said he needs to win his number one contender’s match against Randy Orton, and he wants it more than Orton. Orton came in and said Michaels already had his shot. Michaels threatened to kick Orton’s teeth down his throat.

Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton fought to a no contest. They started out slow with chain wrestling. Michaels’ eye was busted open. He went after Orton’s leg until he was sent into the post. Edge came to ringside, and Michaels almost won with a rollup while Orton was distracted. Orton worked over Michaels, but Michaels came back with a swinging neck breaker. At that time there was a ref bump. Michaels hit an inverted atomic drop and elbow off the top, but Edge distracted him as he went for sweet chin music.

Michaels and Orton went to the floor, where Orton hit the RKO and threw Michaels back into the ring. Orton yelled at Edge and they got into a confrontation that concluded with Edge spearing Orton and throwing him back in. The referee started to count both men out, but they got up at 9. Michaels hit sweet chin music, fell on top of Orton, and they did a double pin finish.

This was the most contrived and fake looking double pin ever, made worse by the fact Michaels was completely on top of Orton and Orton had no part of his body over Michaels. Thus it made absolutely no sense when one of the referees declared Orton the winner. The match itself was a real disappointment. They gave them a ton of time and they spent a while setting up a match, but just at the point the match was starting to build towards a climax they immediately went into the overbooked garbage finish. As the coup de gras, they played Edge’s music. Okay.

Randy Orton complained to Shane McMahon about the finish to the match backstage, but Shane said he had his own concerns. Mick Foley was backstage again with the kid from Make-a-Wish. Coach confronted the kid and said he makes the big decisions on Raw. The kid had an announcement, but was cut off by Edge and Coach.

Matt and Jeff Hardy defeated the World’s Greatest Tag Team. Haas and Benjamin worked over Jeff briefly, but he made the tag to Matt. Matt came in with a double bulldog and side effect. Matt hit the twist of fate and Jeff hit the swanton for the pin. I like Haas and Benjamin a lot, but it’s smart to put over the tag champs strong right after they won the belts. It helps to build the titles as significant.

They aired a hilarious advertisement for The Condemned. They tried to frame it as some sort of thought provoking and socially significant commentary on society. The comedic highlight was the director talking about how long it has taken for the theme of reality television going too far to arise, as if that theme hasn’t been explored a million times already. I mean, Running Man came out 20 years ago now.

The Cutting Edge featured Edge saying that Coach agreed he should be the number one contender. Orton and Michaels came out. Michaels said he is better than Edge and Orton, and wants a rematch with Cena at Backlash. Cena came out, knocked all three challengers, and said he would face any of them. Coach came out and made Cena vs. Orton and Edge in a handicap match with the person scoring the pin winning the title. He said that would be the final decision, but then Foley came out with the honorary GM. The kid made Cena vs. Orton vs. Edge vs. Michaels. This was booked to be a big face pop, but the crowd barely reacted to that announcement.

Lashley beat Shane McMahon via disqualification. Despite the fact they announced Shane’s hair would be on the line and he lost, and despite the fact they even had a barber’s chair out there, Shane didn’t lose his hair. They didn’t even bother to explain why the stipulation was being ignored. I didn’t know that hair only changed hands via pinfall or submission. This wouldn’t fly in Mexico.

Shane jumped Lashley with a spear, and sent Lashley into the post. He hit a baseball slide, and sent Lashley into the steps. He worked over Lashley with punches. Lashley retaliated with an overhead belly to belly, clothesline, back body drop, and fall away slam. All of that was really sloppy, by the way. Shane then punched the referee for the DQ. Umaga, Vince and Armando then came down and beat Lashley into the ground. Shane hit Lashley in the head with a chair, and Lashley bled. Vince announced Lashley vs. Umaga, Shane and Vince for the title at Backlash. You could hear people chanting “boring” at the end of this, which is not exactly the reaction you want to your “main event feud.”

Final Thoughts:

I didn’t like this show at all. It centered around two major angles, but both angles sucked big time. They didn’t make sense. They didn’t deliver what they promised. They felt contrived and phony. And they spent a whole lot of time teasing something new would happen only to end up exactly where they started. The top feuds on Raw are stale and Lashley is way too bland to build around as a top face. Hopefully it’s just a case of wanting to draw things out a little bit further into Backlash, and they have some solid ideas of where they are going after that point.