I liked how WWE wrote Batista
out of its story lines, at least for awhile, on Monday
night.
It was typical angry Batista. He
acted wounded and looked wounded.
It was funny when he said he said "I
quit" in Sunday's match against John Cena because he thought his "life
was being
threatened."
Threatening lawsuits, especially against all WWE fans, was also amusing.
I wasn't a big fan of
him saying he could be out even "years," as there's
no chance he'll be out that long.
Batista's spitting while
talking was annoying, too.
The introduction of Bret
Hart as the new Raw general
manager was a very strong addition.
Bret will be a big plus for Raw, which is going through a transitional period with older wrestlers appearing less and younger stars not quite being ready to take the ball and run with it.
On a down note, there
was no explanation as to how Vince McMahon allowed
Bret to become GM. Kudos to the announcers for asking that question,
though.
Having Bret vacate the
U.S. title made sense. I had no problem with
that.
Jon Lovitz
guest hosts WWE Raw
I've never been a big fan of Lovitz,
but I thought he did an admirable job.
1. Angle with Maryse. REACT: Funny
how Maryse wanted nothing to do with Lovitz until he spoke French and
said he
had lots of money. Decent segment.
2. Superstar search. REACT: I liked
this segment. While it started slowly with The Great Khali/Ranjin Singh
and
Jillian segments, it had my attention with the "fan" who pulled his
eyeball out.
Ted DiBiase Jr. wanting to buy the eyeball was hilarious. I didn't like
how the
secret pressure point by Santino Marella worked on Virgil. It made his
character
look weak, especially since the "move" did no harm to DiBiase
Jr.
Lovitz analysis: He
was refreshingly annoying. Lovitz grade: B.
The
matches
1. Fatal 4-Way Qualifying Match:
Randy Orton beats Batista by forfeit. REACT: Stupid to have someone
qualify in
this manner.
2. Fatal 4-Way Qualifying Match:
Sheamus beats Mark Henry. REACT: A power match that was surprisingly
good.
3. Maryse/Alicia Fox beat Divas
Champion Eve/Gail Kim. REACT: It was fairly certain the heels would win
here
after Eve's win Sunday. The match had a decent pace.
4. United States Champions Match:
R-Truth beats The Miz. REACT: Strong back-and-forth match. I was
surprised The
Miz didn't win in his "hometown."
5. Unified Tag Team Champions The
Hart Dynasty beat William Regal/Vladimir Kozlov. REACT: Quick squash. I
am very
interested in this new team of Sarona Snuka (Jimmy Snuka's daughter) and
Jimmy
and Jules Uso (the sons of Rikishi). They deserve the tag-team
straps.
6. Non-Title Fatal 4-Way Qualifying
Match: Edge beats WWE Champion John Cena and Chris Jericho. REACT: Bad
timing
for a commercial break. Nothing special in this match. I did like the
double
submission move, helping the match pick up late. There was also a strong
PPV
promo push, which was nice.
The
rest
1. Audio outages. REACT: At first, I
thought it was because Batista was on a verbal rampage. As it continued,
it was
obviously a WWE issue. It was annoying.
2. Cena promo. REACT: Funny Sheamus
jokes. I liked how Cena said he was sick of accepting challenges and
would now
make challenges. We'll see how that goes, though.
3. NXT promo. REACT: Strong promos
for NXT, which was smart as it is down to the final four. Michael Cole
demanding
an apology from Daniel Bryan or suing Bryan was the second time of the
night we
heard lawsuit mentioned. I didn't care for that.
Raw
analysis
The matches
were just so-so. I think what made this
show above-average was how Batista was written out of the story lines
and the
surprise new GM in Bret. Lovitz didn't hurt the grade at all.
Raw grade:
B
LATEST HEADLINES AND
MY REACTS
WWE
Injuries
are the big topic in WWE right
now. Orton has a separated shoulder. DiBiase Jr. reportedly suffered a
concussion. And Batista reportedly suffered a back/tailbone injury.
REACT: The
timing is never good. The summer is probably the worst time.
TNA
Wrestling
All is quiet
from the past few days. REACT:
Strange.
