Skieblade's August 27^th WWF RAW Rambling

    Yo, waddup!?  You like the picture of Backstab's wife (to the left)?  =) Yeah, I thought you did.  So you were uncool enough to check out Backstab's web page, eh?  Well, salutations, and welcome to this RAW rambling.  At first, it'll seem a little lame - hey, give me a break, this is the first time I've done this sort of thing!  Hopefully with time, this page will get better - if it doesn't suit your needs, don't come back.  *Note, this is not a move by move recap of what happened - I'll analyze the matches and give my opinions - that's about it.  Anyways, enough of this mumbo jumbo - here we go.

       Today's version of Raw is WAR kicked off from Grand Rapids Michigan.  Your commentators are Jim Ross and Paul Heyman.  Okie Dokie, to start things off, Shane McMahon comes out to dis the Rock.  End Result - the Rock asks ShaneOMac to put up or shut up, ShaneoMac accepts, but, wait - it's a TRAP!  Rhyno comes out, GORE GORE GORE!  Rock's out, and that's that.  A perfectly legit start to RAW in my point of view as the Rhyno vs. Rock match was announced before hand, and one has to expect Rhyno to job (for those of you who don't know what job means, it means to lose to the other player) to the ROCK.  By doing this little intro, the stakes are raised a bit (Rocky's got to get his revenge) and Rhyno gets his second in the sun.

  Match#1 - Undertaker vs. Albert

   End Result:  Undertaker chokeslams Albert for the win.  All right, to tell you the truth, I'm a huge Undertaker fan.  But I mean, what the hell is going on here?  I started watching wrestling the RAW after WrestlemaniaX7, and since then, I have yet to see the Undertaker get pinned.  Someone please email Backstab if I'm wrong (I don't think I am).  Why is the WWF jobbing a perfectly legit star in Albert for absolutely no reason at all.  I don't think this match was for payback from before (Albert disrupting Kane's -Taker's brother - matches) as Jim Ross never made any mention of it.  So what the hell!?  Undertaker wins!! WHOOPEE!  No one benefits.  I think they're just running out of ideas for the Undertaker.  If you ask me, I think they should deport Taker and Kane to WCW.  They'd probably be able to find a storyline for them there, and they can also resolve the issue of separating the WCW and WWF titles (which are both currently held by Taker and Kane).  It is obvious that there is really no one of the proper calibre in the WCW to take the belt from the brothers of destruction, so by moving them to the WCW, there's actually a, well, legit tag team there.  The only problem left would be getting the WWF tag team belts back to the WWF, and that's not really a problem as there are many teams in the WWF that are worthy of holding the belt - hell, even Kaientai is more worthy than Palumbo and O'Haire.  By moving Taker and Kane to the WCW, I think the WWF has more options to play with - I mean, hell, having people job to the Undertaker for no reason is OBVIOUSLY NOT WORKING! 

   Match#2 - Hurricane Helms vs. Matt Hardy

   End Result:  Ivory nails Hardy with a crowbar and Helms pins Hardy to become the new European Champion.  Ok, Matt Hardy has been left in the dark lately - but he might actually have a story line now, along with Lita!  WHOO!!  The Match itself wasn't entertaining - hell, it was like 3 minutes long, but at least they got 2 feuds going on here.  The obvious Helms vs Matt Hardy feud, and the Ivory vs Lita feud.  Remember, Tanya Harding, whoops, I mean Ivory, came out and nailed Lita in the knee with the crowbar before nailing Matt.  WHOOO!!  Two females that can actually wrestle!!  I expect the next match between this group to be an intergender tag team match between Hardy/Lita and Helms/Ivory.  We shall see what happens...  Overall, crappy match, but I'll repeat this again, at least they have a storyline underway, unlike Undertaker over there...

Match#3 - Bradshaw vs Test

   End Result:  Bradshaw takes boot to the face and Test pins for the win.  I really have no comment for this match other than the fact that Test is probably getting a push in the WCW.  That's about it for this match.

Match#4 - Rhyno vs the Rock

   End Result:  The Rock hits the Rock Bottom on Rhyno and pins him to retain his status as WCW champion.  This was a pretty good match - Rhyno pretty much dominated throughout, but Rock Bottom, and that was that.  Not sure if the Fed knows what to do with Rhyno at the moment.  Edge would be a pretty good opponent for him, but since they're pursuing the Christian vs Edge angle, that obviously won't happen.  But heck, there's not a better way out there to be noticed than to wrestle the Rock, and he did a good job at that.  We'll see what develops with Rhyno over the next few weeks.  As for the Rock, they're just jobbing people to him, and building up to what will be Rock vs Booker T part 2.  Standard stuff I guess, although I was really hoping they'd go to Austin vs. Rock at Unforgiven.  Oh well, just personal yearning, that's all.  Good match overall, and Rhyno got a nice pop.

Match#5 - Edge vs Hugh Morris

   End Result:  Edge gets disqualified due to Christian's interference, but still retains the title.  Obvious what the Fed is trying to do here - Edge vs Christian, here we come.  Christian was the one who volunteered Edge for the match, and was the one who cost Edge the match, so yeah, this is a nobrainer.  Hugh who?  He obviously had no point in the match, and I don't care if I never see him again - haha.  I really think they could have pushed Christian vs. Edge back a month and done Edge vs. Rhyno this month, but oh well.  The match itself was pretty boring, but heck, I guess that's why Hugh Morris was in it.

Match#6 - Booker T vs Big Show

    End Result:  Booker gets disqualified for using the steel chair.  Hmz, nothing much to say about this match other than Booker T is being portrayed as a really mean person.  Big Whoop, the Rock will kick his candy ass anytime anywhere, mean or not mean.  Side note, Big Show's portrayal as Booker T was actually pretty funny - LOL =)  Hmz, here's my impression of Backstab:  "Yo.  Venus Williams?  WTF?  That's 10/10 material.  She's elite.  Anna Kournikova?  Now that's lame!."  =)

Match#7 - Jericho/Angle vs RVD/Tazz

    End Result:  Angle hits the Angleslam on Tazz and pins him for the victory.  Hmz, ok, the match was pretty good, but I fail to see why the used Tazz.  He should just concentrate on commentating or something - he really doesn't have that great a place in the alliance anyways.  If they want to give someone a push, they should have put Kanyon in.  But alas, good match anyways.  I think everyone knew the Angleslam was coming once the mission was locked in, but it was a good ending nonetheless.  But wait, that isn't the end - Austin comes in and steals Angle's gold medals.  WTF!?  This is old.  Benoit already did that and he already stuffed them down his pants.  Oh well, I guess they had to get Austin in there somehow - I personally would have enjoyed Austin splashing Angle with some milk, doing a stunner, then putting an ankle lock on him.  But alas, I guess Austin will have the medals come Unforgiven, and Angle will win them back somehow.

Final Thoughts:

    Well, not that great a RAW.  Excluding the Rock's match and the final match, all other matches pretty much sucked.  Later on, after this invasion angle has died down, I think the Rock and Jericho should become tag partners - that would be so great.  Anyways, back to this show, RVD gave a pretty good performance, but I don't think he's a top level performer.  I'd like to see him wrestle Jeff Hardy again - that again would be a mouth-watering match.  Overall, if I had to rate the show, probably 2 stars out of 5.  Not horrendous, but definitely not great.  Hopefully Smackdown will be better.  Aight, that's it.  Peace out.

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