Raw seemed just a little indifferent to the last few weeks for my taste. The matches were excellent for their standards, and I hope to see more of it, but it didn't have the shocking moment that we have been seeing on the last few Raw's and were frequent a few years ago.
Vince's promo was interesting at the start and I enjoyed it. Umaga as his pick was not surprising and the Intercontinental Title win was surprising. Not surprising as in Holy shit! Umaga just won the title. But surprising in that I didn't think that he needed the title because he isn't going to be doing anything with it until after Wrestlemania, so that just renders the title pointless for now. This shows how the WWE is just throwing titles on people for the sake of it, and no title has the prestige it once had, especially not the mid card titles.
The HBK and Cena promo was interesting, and I loved the part where that waste of air time known as Big Dick Johnson had the shit kicked out of him, and I hope that is the last we see of that fat f**k. Cena was just trying too hard though, and I really miss the days where his promo work as a rapper saved for his complete lack of wrestling ability, but I think we give him too much credit for being a good promo man, because I don't think he is as good as we think he is. He was more free and natural when he was a rapper and he wasn't as kid friendly as he is now.
The Edge and RVD match was a great match that should have gone for much longer, and was hindered a little by a rushed feeling that they had. Some moves were a little badly done but it was a good match for Raw standards now and the ending was around the only bad point. I was surprised at the fact that Edge is in the Money In the Bank match, because I think he is too established to be in there and I was hoping that RVD would be in there because he is a guy that can perform the greatest spots. RVD is lucky to pick up a match anywhere and he looks to be in the doghouse as of now. For a guy who is fed up with the company, he puts on a very nice match.
Carlito and Ric Flair had a decent match against Raw's resident rednecks, Cade and Murdoch, and this little angle is interesting. Carlito looks like a whole new person for now, and looks exciting in the ring, and I hope he goes back to his heel persona as that is something that will assist him. I would like to see these two have a good, long feud and it will really benefit Carlito if he impresses the critics he has gathered in his 'rough patch'.
The womens match was not as good as their previous encounter, but it was a decent womens match that was ruined by a lack of moves shown by the two somewhat. Like all the other matches on Raw, the finish was asinine because it was just pointless for a title change. I am sure some classic women's wrestlers would throw up if they saw what the current standards are, but these two seem to be the future of the division, but PLEASE would they get rid of the hair pulling and the takedowns. Melina should have an interesting run as champion against Mickie and Ashley.
Her mic work was great as well and she is better than some of the men in that area. I liked when Mickie slapped Grisham, and she may return to her psycho role against Beth Phoenix perhaps. What was with Nitro's 'ugh'? Sheesh. If that is all the WWE are going to do with him, by making him a lesser star than her, I really see no hope for Nitro and it now looks like he is being punished for Melinas backstage issues while she is doing fantastically. What is this? Bizzarro World?
Does the Khali match even deserve a mention? The Highlanders are well and truly buried and Khali apparently wants better competition and a thought came to mind about him and a returning Mark Henry. That would be terrible just because of Khali, but it would let two evils collide instead of stinking up separate feuds. The fans were actually not booing Khali all that much. Which shows either they don't hate the character which goes against all opinions on this site, or they couldn't care less about the Highlanders.
The main event was average and Cena showed nothing new. Orton deserved better than that crappy ending and they didn't go the full match and I would have liked to see him look a little better. Orton just isn't given a fair enough go in the WWE and backstage issues aside, I think he deserves better. They seemed dull in patches but showed some good intensity in the middle but kept the trend of having poor endings to the matches and it was soft at the end. Edge and Orton don't look like turning on eachother at all now, which I think is a waste of weeks of building up to their feud, only to have it stopped in its tracks. HBK looks like turning soon and it's good booking that is keeping us waiting for it. Great work on them.
Overall, I would give it a B+ because it was too much like the last few Raw's. Getting better and I liked the title changes. I hope they keep it up and it is looking stable so well done to them. The matches were good save for the Khali one and the feuds are getting there. Let's see more of this wrestling instead of time filling promos and it should be great.
