WWE Raw 10/16 Review
Since Raw and Smackdown are both airing from the Staples Center in Los Angeles this week, I figured I’d watch them and review them for SCU. First comes Raw. Featured on this week’s edition of Raw are matches with HHH taking on Randy Orton, a 4-way for the WWE Intercontinental Title, and special appearances by several celebrities. -Raw starts off with the usual intros and such. Lillian Garcia was going to announce the first match but was interupted by Edge and Randy Orton, who came out dressed like DX. They cut a really good promo that ripped into the fans for buying into DX’s act, and said the only people who enjoyed them were 12 year olds and stupid fans. DX comes out and start to insult Edge for having a small penis and Randy Orton for posing almost naked in pictures on the internet, and then “accidently” showed a picture from a Playgirl spread Shawn Michaels did. Orton and HHH setup their match for the main event after all that. The segment ended with a short brawl that saw DX get the better of the two heels. This segment went on for more about 13 minutes, which was a little long in my mind. It was funny at first, but then it started to get pretty boring.
The Spirit Squad(Johnny & Mikey) vs. Cryme Tyme
The story of this match was that The Spirit Squad, a group of five male cheerleaders, were sick of being embarrassed every week so they issued an open challenge for a non-title tag match. This brought out the debuting Cryme Tyme. For several weeks there have been skits airing on Raw that features Cryme Tyme, two African American males who run around dressed up like two dudes from the ghetto going around and causing trouble to get ready for their Raw debut. Their entrance was pretty funny, as one of the members had on a grill and they both were coming out and acting like hype men that most rappers have on stage during concerts. The match itself was surprisingly good for what it was. Basic tag match with the Spirit Squad beating up on one member of the face team, and then a hot tag ends up being made to the other Cryme Tyme member who cleans house. Cryme Tyme gets the win with a double team flipping neckbreaker/Samoan drop type move. Fans really enjoyed Cryme Tyme in this.
-When Raw came back from the commercial break, they showed Kenny of the Spirit Squad yelling about how he’s sick of being with a bunch of losers and walked off after shoving some of them. I like this move because Ken Doane is a really talented athlete, and deserves better than having to be stuck with a retarded gimmick. After this there was a backstage promo with Melina and Johnny Nitro where they talked about one of their A-list celebrity friends making an appearance tonight.
-They showed some clips about The Marine, and I stopped paying attention to the segment. After this there was a segment with King Booker and his wife in Jonathan Coach’s office and were talking about an announcement to be made that night. Cryme Tyme came into the office and started to mock King Booker, who has recently been using an English accent and is pretending to be royalty. One of them started to hug Booker and then they both left. After they left, Coach asked Booker if he knew what they were saying and Booker responded with “I don’t speak ebonics!” After that, Booker started to look for his wallet, only to find out that Cryme Tyme jacked his wallet. After that Booker started to go crazy, broke out of his English accent and said “Get their black asses back here!” and kept going “Ahh hell nah!” Pretty funny segment.
WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Chris Master vs. Super Crazy vs. Shelton Benjamin
This match was the best match of the show. It started out with Crazy and Shelton going at it while Hardy and Masters went at it with eachother on the otherside of the ring. There were several fun spots on this, and they were built up pretty well. The crowd was also into this match. Super Crazy was going to go for a dive onto Jeff Hardy on the outside, but was caught by Shelton Benjamin after he jumped up to the top rope and attempted to go for a superplex. Then Chris Masters came and got under Shelton and powerbombed him, which caused Super Crazy to end up being superplexed by Shelton at the same time. This spot has been done so many times in TNA, but a lot of times when it’s done there it just ends up being a big clusterfuck of bodies flying everywhere and is just something to get the crowd to pop. I didn’t get that vibe here. Another cool spot had Chris Masters going for a Masterlock on Crazy, and when he locked it in it was broken up by Shelton who hit a Springboard Blockbuster. Jeff Hardy won the match after he sent Shelton and Crazy to the outside, and hit a Twist Of Fate and a Swanton Bomb onto Masters for the pin. Match went around 10 minutes and was interupted by a commercial break, but it was still a really good match.
-During this match, there was some guy shown in the front row who had a sign that said “Joey Ryan Squash?” on the right side of the hardcam. It was pretty funny to me.
-Backstage, King Booker is screaming at some cops about his wallet. When they asked him what the guys who took his wallet looked like, he said they had cornrows and jeans, and that they all looked the same to him. Then Big Show and Vince McMahon came in, and at this point the segment got pretty boring.
-After a commercial break, Melina and Johnny Nitro came down to the ring and they have a very close, personal friend of theirs in the building. Then they introduced Kevin Federline, who ended up getting a lot of heat from the fans at Staples Center. Federline started to cut a promo about the fans and insulted everyone in Los Angeles and kept calling them superficial posuers. Then they talked about his rap album coming out, and asked if they wanted to hear a song from the album, and the entire crowd said no. After this, John Cena came out and started to rap and compared Federline’s talent to Paris Hilton’s and talked about having sex with Britney Spears. Nitro then stood up for K-Fed but ended up being taken out by Cena. Nitro and Melina then left and King Booker, The Big Show, and Vince McMahon came out. He announced that the match between the three will be a title match at the next PPV, and that the fans will get to pick which title will be on the line. When they left, Cena turned his attention back to K-Fed, who was sitting outside of the ring. He told Federline to get in the ring. Cena asked Federline to cast the first vote for Cyber Sunday, and Federline said that he wanted to see John Cena get his ass kicked. After that, he offered Kevin a handshake, which was accepted and then ended up being FU’d by Cena. This segment was great, only because of the way Kevin Federline was used in it. He walked around the ring trying to act like a badass and was really cocky, and played a better heel than most wrestlers do nowadays. His selling of the FU was funny too, as he looked like he was shot in a driveby. He also tried to keep his hat on when he was being lifted by Cena. Best segment put on by the WWE up to this point in the year.
Carlito vs. Rob Conway
Raw came back from commercial and Carlito was making his way back to the ring. Jim Ross explained that during the break, Conway came out and cut a promo and said he was sick of never being used and that he wanted a match. This match was short. Less than two minutes long, and was a complete squash with Carlito going over. It was pretty much a waste of time.
-I went to the bathroom and missed the last segment, but ended up making it back just in time to see the Jackass squash. Todd Grisham was in the ring and welcomed the guys from Jackass 2 into the ring. It starts out as a generic segment with Grisham asking them who their favorite wrestler was. Chris Pontius said “Shane” and ended up being interupted by Armando Alejandro Estrada. He came out and started to question whether or not if they’re really crazy, and if their show was just an act. Steve-O then said he was up for anything(except for disapointing his dad by shoving a toy car up his ass for a movie) and gets in Estrada’s face. Estrada then said that he had a friend he wanted them to meet. Umaga comes out and the Jackass guys get ready by streching out and doing pushups. Steve-O then did a backflip off the top rope and the fans went crazy for it. Then he did a cartwheel onto Pontius’ shoulders, and jumped onto Umaga and then Umaga turned it into a spinebuster. Umaga then grabbed Pontius for a Samoan Drop, kicked Steve-O in the chest and dropped Pontius. Umaga was about to leave until he saw Steve-O sitting up and laughing at his friend who was on the ground. Umaga came back and then kicked the shit out of Steve-O. This segment was way better than the K-Fed one, and is one of the best segments to take place in the WWE in years.
WWE Women’s Title Tournament 4 Way Bra And Panties Match: Maria vs. Victoria vs. Torrie Wilson vs. Candice Michelle
Another short match. Went around 2 minutes with Maria getting the win. Really short, but there were two decent spots in this. Not much else to say.
Triple H vs. Randy Orton
Early on in the match, Orton hurt his knee when he was thrown to the outside by Triple H. After the commercial break, Triple H was in control and worked over the knee a little bit. In the middle of the match, Lita walked out and Triple H was distracted. That allowed Orton to throw Triple H out of the ring where Edge ended up giving Triple H a DDT onto the floor. Orton took control of the match for awhile, but Triple H started to make a comeback. Towards the end of the match, Edge, Lita, and Shawn Michaels started to get involved in the match and distracted the referee. Edge was able to hit Triple H with a low blow while Lita was distracing the ref. Then Orton was going to try to use a chair, but while Lita was distracting the referee, Shawn Michaels got in the ring and gave Orton a low blow. Triple H grabbed the chair and hit Orton in the head with it and pinned him for the win. This match was decent, but at the same time it didn’t help out Edge and Orton, and it just seemed like another win for DX.
Overall, this was a pretty good Raw. The 4 Way for the IC title was easily the best match of the show. The segments with the Jackass guys and K-Fed were really hilarious, and the debut of Cryme Tyme was fun. The Carlito squash was very pointless, and the main event didn’t do much to help Orton and Edge gain a lot of momentum in their feud with DX after a promising start last week. I’m looking forward to seeing Smackdown, which will feature Rey Mysterio taking on Chavo Guerrero in an I Quit match.
