RAW Thoughts for August 1, 2005

Blitzkrieg

Post your Pros and cons about the show here..I'll post mine later.

spankymcspankspank

i didnt see the whole show and the parts i did see were with no sound because i watched it at the gym. except for cena and jericho, i saw that at home

pros:

hardy. i didnt get to hear the promo, but from what i read on the captioning it looked good. i like how he addressed the lita/kane marriage and kinda tied that in.

HBK!!! i really wish i could have heard this segment. i HAVE to find a way to see it again, either download it or something. it looked hilarious. the "old" jokes will never get old.

Tatanka/angle/eugene: i dont know anything about tatanka but this looked like a pretty cool match. angle is really working the hell out of this angle. very nice

the main event. great match. although i kinda hope cena loses at summerslam. hes gone over a lot the past few weeks and if jericho wins they could keep the feud going.

cons:

val venis jobbing yet again

conways new gimmick. its way cliche. and his finisher sucks major balls. seriously. my first thought was "wow, he really screwed up that suplex"

the diva search. "hey guys, this diva search thing is really losing popularity. were getting a lot of negative heat and boring chants we need to do something drastic to bring it back up. something big. SOMEONE big. we need a huge hollywood star. someone who has a ton of credibility and a even more awards. i got it! ............. ROB SCHNEIDER"

it's still real to me, dammit!

ICEMAN

I found RAW to be very entertaining tonight and did a good job in building up SummerSlam. Here is my Pro/Con list:

Pros:
-HBK promo: This was extremely funny and brought back memories of the original DX when HBK and Hunter would go out to the ring and just rip on everybody. Even my wife, who is not into wrestling, was cracking up several times watching this. I loved how HBK would saw "brother" in every sentence and kept on posing. I also loved how at the end he switched back to being serious and once again made me anxious to see the match. Great job HBK.

-Main event: Carlito and Cena had a good match and Jericho is really developing into his new heel persona. I'm looking forward to their match at SS as well. Even Bischoff was good, bitch-slapping Cena at the end of the show.

-Matt Hardy's promo: I liked the fact that WWE allowed him to fill everyone in on what the story was behind his disappearance and why he hates Edge and Lita. I know all of us on the net know the story but there are those out there that maybe didn't know all the facts so this was a good way to catch everyone up. Hopefully Edge will respond next week with a good, emotional promo of his own.

-Eugene Invitational: Eugene can be annoying at times, but in the right storyline he can be used effectively, and that is the case here. Angle is great and these two should have a good match at SS.

-Benjamin/Show-Masters/Snitsky tag match wasn't bad, considering I thought it was going to be much worse. Show's chops on Snitsky sounded brutal.

-Vinnie Mac was in the house.

Cons:
-Conway-Venis match went a little long and dragged a bit.

-Diva Search. Enough said.

Lynch

HBK, Hardy and Jericho, rest was meh.

"What the hell is an aluminum falcon??!!"

Thundercat

Pros:
HBK promo! I was laughing out loud, that had to be one of the funniest things i've seen in my life! Saying brother over and over then ripping the bandana off and looking at it for just that second was awesome. Then plus the HBK video package was amazing! Whole thing was just amazing

Matt Hardy's Return, i really really hope this turns out well it could turn into one of the greatest programs ever. Hardy's promo was awesome. Who woulda thought when the Hardy Boyz were around that it would be Matt where he is now and not Jeff!

Tatanka! I love seeing returns like this! I hope WWE does this more often with old wrestlers.

Cons:
Diva search contest, Rob Schneider made this the first time i actually watched an entire diva search segment without fast forwarding it but it still sucked.

Conways new gimmick... what the hell?

"Drugs are for the weak"

Blitzkrieg

Well..I liked most of the show, it was very entertaining.


Cons:

-Diva Search crap. Rob was annoying as fuck.

-Rob Conway. It will never work. Just quit now.



Pros:

-HBK promo. This might have been my favorite part of the show. HBK at his best. The lines were very funny and HBK made a lot of good points. This still has that "shork" feel to it. I'm very excited about the match.

-Matt Hardy promo. Hardy was great filling in everyone what's been going on. I think we can call this a straight shoot although I don't think Matt really wants Edge to die. The match should be entertaining though. I have a feeling we'll see these two go all out. It'll be interesting to see what Edge has to say now.

-Shelton/Show vs. Snitsky/Masters. Really good match I thought. I like the way Show and Masters were kept apart. They should definitely fight @ SS..I see some real potential in this feud.

-Eugene Invitational. I like Eugene as a mid-card performer. Funny shit. Angle was good too, I also have high hopes for this feud. It was nice to see Tatanka back in action, I love surprises.

-Carlito/Cena. The match was interesting even though the outcome was predictable. I still see a lot of potential in Carlito, but this was more about the Cena/Jericho feud which has become really entertaining. I'm lovin' Jericho's character more and more each week, and although Cena/Eric are doing a SCSA/Vince ripoff it could still be fun to watch if they incorporate some different twists and turns into it and don't just make it a straight rehash.


Overall a 4 out of 5 show.

The Phantom

Pro's:

+ The HBK segment, it was great, the ending was fantastic also. This was Shawn back at his best. I got flashbacks to his DX days while watching this.

+ The official return of Matt Hardy, and him explaining why he's back, it made sence storyline wise.

+ The Big Show & Benjamin vs Snitsky & Masters. I really enjoyed this match, especially watching the big show and Shelton. Some unique double team moves from Shelton and Show. The big show looked pumped out there, his feud with Masters also seems to be going along nicely.

+ Eugene invitational. That was some funny stuff between Eugene and Kurt. When Tatanka came out it made me feel like I was 5 years old again watching him on TV, nice spot of nostalgia.

Cons:

- The McMahon announcment, it was just abit Blah for me probably because I was hoping it would be the announcment that a certain Mr Lesner would be returning.

- Rob Conway vs Val. Conways whole gimmick is just retarded. His music is retarded, his ring attire looks gay, and no one is interested in him at this moment in time. I say get rid of the hat, and the facial hair, change the music and cover his bits up abit.

- Diva search segment. At least they keept it relativly short this week. I hope Ashley wins though.

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

Pros:


I am glad I wasnt the only one that LOVED that Snitsky/Masters and Show/Shelton match. Masters and Snitsky worked really well together. Show slapped the piss out of Snitsky.

Conways in ring skills (see cons for his appearance)

haha, Jericho is the fairest ref I have ever seen. Made for a fun main event. This is the best he has ever done at playing the heel.

HBK's promo. CLASSIC !!!!!

Matt Hardys offical return. I wouldnt have been able to handle another week of run-ins and what not. Dont know about the car accident line, but oh well. He is emotional.

Vince explaining why Hardy was back. It was obvious, but the casual fan needed more answers.

I liked that Main event match....
_______________________________________


Cons: Is Chavo ever going to wrestle as Kerwin?

Diva Search still sucks.

Jericho is getting such an upper hand in this fued that it indicates that he has ZERO chance of beating him at SS.

Dr. Giganto

Pros:

Almost everything. I enjoyed the show immensely this week.

Starting off, the Shelton/Show vs. Snitsky/Masters match was great. It's especially impressive considering only one of those 4 is considered by a very good in-ring performer (Shelton). Like I said in the Raw thread, I wouldve bet money beforehand that Snitsky would be the one to take the pin, but it makes sense.

The Eugene Invitational was enjoyable too. Eugene's "What's your name and where are you from?" bit was hysterical. And Tatanka coming out was a pleasant surprise as well.

The Matt Hardy bit was great too. I think it's cool that they didnt insult the fans' intelligence, and they just told the truth about the whole situation. Plus, his whole "I hope he dies in a car wreck" line did a job of showing how much he hates Edge, whether it's the truth, or just from a storyline perspective

HBK-Hogan. Just a brilliant performance by HBK. Especially how he got all serious at the end and superkicked the camera.

The Jericho/Carlito/Cena stuff was good too. It's a little TOO Austin-McMahon, like JV said, but considering the level of performers that Cena is working with (Bisch and Jericho), it's really helping solidify Cena. And Carlito is entertaining as all hell.

Also, I thought the Diva stuff was fairly watchable this week. And despite not being an "A-list" celebrity, having Rob Schnieder there did make it seem like kind of a big deal. Plus, the more I get to see Ashley and Leyla, the better. They're like my Carmella and Amy from last year's Diva Search

Cons:

Conway-Venis. A stinker pure and simple. Terrible gimmick. Anytime he has to introduce his character in a pre-taped backstage promo, it doesnt bode well for the character's success.

Also, I hate "guest referee" gimmicks. Like JV said, why wouldnt he just keep counting after Cena gets the shoulder up? My thought was that, since Vinnie Mac was in the building, he would tell Jericho that if he didnt call the match fairly, he would lose his title shot. That would be a better way to progress the feud, especially if Jericho was forced to count the pin for Cena.

Carlito's future: Um, what now? We're three weeks from Summerslam and the IC champ doesnt have a match. I have an idea, and I'm gonna make a new thread about it...

Tyler Durden

Mmmm, I'm not sure I'm going to have any real cons in this weeks show, it was a pretty damn entertaining effort.

Cena-Jericho. Oh okay it's all a bit of a rehash of the old Austin-Dude-Vince feud but it's enjoyable and everyone playing their role well. I love when Raw's end with the heels on top (for some strange reason) and the writers and the performers are really making me look forward to the Summerslam blow off which is all that matters.

HBK segment. Man that was gold. That must be the first segment featuring comedy in it that I laughed out. It's taken a few weeks to build toward the "old HBK" heel character but he really reached top form here tonight.

Matt Hardy. I enjoyed this segment a lot. Matt couldn't have asked for much more of a build, however I couldn't make out whether the watching crowd were intently listening to it or if they were bored. I remember someone pointing out recently about Brian Pillman that they only person that made any money out of it was Pillman himself and that nobody else did. Maybe that's how this is going to pan out too. The fans like Matt but it seemed like the blow off of the Kane marriage as just a storyline seemed to throw people off the scent. It wsa real interesting though, let's see how it goes!

Matches. Well...they all worked their asses off, the tag match was good for a TV match and even Rob & Val put their hearts into it. I don't usually like new characters very much and it takes a while for me to warm to them. Conway's is no different, it seems really sucky with awful intro music. He's a very good performer though, and I do want it to work!!

Diva Seach. He's a complete show off jerk that would really get on my nerves after too long, but for five minutes Schneider really helped this work.

Was there anything else....hell I can't remember. Raw rocked this week.

Edit...Oh yeah, Eugene invitational. Well I'm always a lover of bringing back 80's/90's guys for short segments and this worked well. Angle was excellent but that's nothing new.