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Looking At "Showing Your Rear End To The Masses Is A McMahon Family Trait" Edition Of Vengeance
by Dave Scherer @ 11:22:00 AM on 6/26/2006 Quote:
Last night the Raw brand joined the "forty dollar PPV" arena with Vengeance. The show featured the return of Degeneration X and their match against the Spirit Squad was the selling point of the broadcast to the masses. Since that's what most people tuned in to see, WWE gave them exactly what they wanted, which was the right call.
Vengeance on the whole was a solid show, with three matches that I liked and only one real dog of a bout. The guys worked hard throughout and the there were some good surprises in the booking. There also was one really bad tenet that ran throughout the evening, and that was WWE making a PAY show a commercial for a free Raw the next night. WWE should never do that. When people lay down $40 for a show, they deserve to see matches and finishes, not teasers for a TV show. I hope that this was a one time thing or WWE could see their already lower US PPV buying audience drop even further. Let's get on to the show.
What is there to say about the pre-show? It was a shill-a-thon with no new content or any reason to watch it. I highly doubt that it got anyone who tuned in by accident to buy the show at the last minute either. I hate that WWE has made the decision to make the pre-shows garbage. They want us to spend forty bucks now for the PPVS and they can't even give us anything before the show to whet our appetites? It's stupid. They should load that sucker up. ... OK, I take that back. I do have something to say about the pre-show and that is DAMN, is Jonathan Coachman still thinking he made the right move by asking out of the Raw announcing team? His new character sure doesn't have much momentum. In fact, it's about as solid as The Titanic (and I mean the ship, not the movie).
I thought it made sense to open the show with Randy Orton and Kurt Angle. They were a "non-WWE" match (I know, but come on, play along) so they should have been first. It just made sense and you knew John Cena wasn't going to open the show. The match itself didn't do much for me. It was OK, but I kind of like the match they had on TV a few weeks ago. I just don't think that they gel well together. I don't know what it is about Orton but he just bores me in the ring. It's not that he is a bad worker, but he just bores me. He has that X Pac thing going where I just don't care at all about him. Plus, I hated the finish. You have an "eh" guy from Raw pin one of the top ECW guys. ... As for the finish, well I will just say it strikes a blow for employees everywhere who don't respect their bosses. Jeez, Randy Orton was a problem child backstage, got suspended and was brought back to face Triple H down the road in a top program, so of course he beats Kurt Angle and the finish craps all over the new ECW brand (which frankly needs help at this point). Yeah, that will tell everyone they need to tow the line in WWE or else, well unless they are 6'5" and the company thinks they can work with the top guys. And, what does it say about Angle as a shooter and a wrestling machine to lose in this fashion? Not much obviously. Just amazing. This was the one really poorly booked match of the night.
Vince McMahon beat up a kid in a wheelchair. Do I really need to comment? Again, that is why when people ask what I do for a living, I say that I am in New Media. It was just embarrassing. I can't believe that no one in Vince's inner circle didn't have the balls to tell him that not only wasn't the segment funny, but it was also really cruel to boot. "Yes men" are useless Vince. Get someone to tell you the truth in your circle.
Wait a second, we aren't supposed to remember past storylines, but we are supposed to remember Doink? Whatever. Umaga and Eugene was a squash. I hate squashes on PPVs. Squashes are for TV. To make matters worse, they then used a PPV to set up another match. TV is supposed to set up matches, not PPV. ... I am not looking forward to that Umaga-Kamala match either.
Something else I don't want to see on PPV is the angle that should lead to a PPV match, and that is exactly what happened when Mick Foley did a great promo reading from Ric Flair's novel. That should have been done, and done with more time, weeks ago on Raw, not right before the damn match. ... I was liking Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair until they went to the WAY too early finish. I can appreciate that they wanted to do the angle to set up the program between the two but as I said above, angles should play out on free TV, not when I am laying down forty bucks. PPV should be for clean finishes and if WWE wonders why less people are buying the shows in the US than used to, they should consider that. With that said, I think I will enjoy the program going forward. ... Flair was in classic bleeding a gusher mode. It was just like the old days. The post match angle was well done, even if it was done in the wrong venue. ... I must be old but I would rather get my ass kicked than grab another guy's package, the way that Flair did. But, that's just me I guess.
Hey, if Torrie was doing the photo shoot, why did Maria need oil applied? OK, I won't ask any more silly questions. One of these days WWE will go all the way and have the two women do "live sex". Now that would be cool. What the hell, it's PPV.
The IC three way was a really good, solid match that was very well booked. They put the belt on Johnny Nitro, who should get elevated from it, and set up a program for him with Carlito, due to the finish. ... Carlito off the top? AWESOME! I loved it. Carlito really shined here with the big spots that he did. I said it before and I will say it again, there's big time babyface money in Carlito if they book him properly. ... The three way spot in the corner was really cool too. ... I had to laugh at Jerry Lawler (yeah I know, that happens a lot) when he talked about having a hard time calling a move and that it would have been so much worse if Tazz had to do it. Come on King, we all know what your strength is and it's not calling moves, buddy.
RVD and Edge started slow and built into a very good match, even if the crowd didn't really seem to care about it. It got really good at the end. I was shocked that RVD kept the title, and I glad that he did. ECW needs that title right now a lot more than Raw does so it was the right booking decision. I just hope it doesn't change hands tonight on Raw. ... Jeez, how that powerbomb into the security wall doesn't break someone's back, I don't know. It sure as hell looks nasty. RVD's back has to be hurting after that one.
They have to stop having the ECW guys chanting the company name. That is just goofy and makes them look like a Job Squad. ... Hey, when Paul said, "One down, one to go" did he forget about Angle losing in the opener?
Kane and Fa-Kane? Jim Ross said it best when he remarked, "This is an ugly match!" Well said JR. And Fa-Kane won, so we will get to see even more of this amazing feud. I can't wait until SummerSlam!
I liked the John Cena-Sabu match. It was just what it should have been and it was effective in that light. People dog Cena and in some cases it's justified. But since ECW has come back, he has taken a ton of abuse and kept on going. He has stepped up in my opinion. If you are going to rip the guy when he deserves it, you should put him over when he deserves it as well. ... Sabu's FU to the floor was STIFF looking. You never want to hit the table right over the legs because there is no give to it. And that was just his ass. His upper body missed altogether. Ouch. ... How happy were the ECW guys to get a payday just for being lumberjacks? Then again, when Raw sent out their B Team of guys to be lumberjacks and the ECW guys couldn't even beat them up, it sure made them look bad. Take the paydays while you can I guess.
Did you see Goldust in the SummerSlam promo? Ouch.
The DX-Spirit Squad match was exactly what I expected and it was exactly what it should have been. I didn't love it, but the masses did and that's what counts. People seem to be enjoying the reunion a lot, so that is what matters. ... Was anyone else shocked to Triple H's rear end? Nah, me either. There must be something in the McMahon family where the men like to pull their pants down on national TV. Odd. ... It was fitting that they ended the show with Vince talking about tonight's Raw since they did that so much during the show. I hope it was a one time thing.
| Credit: PWinsider |
06-26-2006, 12:34 PM
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