It’s safe to say the past few days have been a storm cloud of suspensions & releases. I’ll start off with the terminations of some WWE Superstars. The biggest surprises are the releases of Cryme Tyme & Eugene. Cryme Tyme was in line for a big push during the fall. It’s started off as they come out and sell something to a fan plant. They even had a tag title shot they won almost a year ago and have yet to use. Well, that won’t be happening anytime soon. Apparently, there was a disagreement backstage between the members of Cryme Tyme and the duo of Cade & Murdoch. Instead of working out their dispute, Vince decided to can Cryme Tyme all together. Like most fans, I’m somewhat pissed about this because instead of building up Cryme Tyme, we get to sit through the weekly Snitsky squash. I wouldn’t mind if Cryme Tyme ended up in TNA. Lord knows that tag division could use some younger talent.
The release of Eugene came as a huge surprise to everyone backstage. I know he didn’t have the best gimmick but he helped a lot of the young talent down in OVW. He was one of the best workers and I’ve seen some of his earlier stuff & he looked good. Most people refer to him as a retard but they fail to make the connection that he’s playing a mentally challenged person who captured their dream of becoming a WWE Superstar. I don’t want Eugene, aka Nick Dinsmore, to go to TNA. That’s the last thing TNA needs is another former WWE Superstar. If he did go, I presume he would win the heavyweight title within a few months unless Kurt Angle had anything to say about it.
Now it’s onto the suspensions. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we’ll be able to see who’s been suspended and who hasn’t. Before I go any further, no, these guys will not be on TV contrary to what you might believe. Jeff Hardy was suspended a month or so ago and you didn’t see him on TV. The latest suspensions come as a bombshell to every wrestler in that locker room. The message is clear: you get caught, you’re ass is gone for 30 or 60 days or even for good. It’s also clear that nobody is safe. Take Umaga for example. His name came up in the pharmacy stuff and he’s no longer the Intercontinental Champion as you’ll see later. Next is Chavo Guerrero, who hasn’t been the same since the death of Eddy Guerrero. Tack on an exploitation feud with Rey Mysterio, then Chris Benoit, then the death of Chris Benoit, and he’s not doing so well.
It’s been noted that Kennedy was pulled from house shows over the weekend. However, it looks as if all is well as he was on RAW tonight. It’s already been spoiled on here and on WWE.com that CM Punk finally won the ECW Championship. I’m pretty excited that he won. As for John Morrison, he’s gone. Over the next few weeks, we’ll see more on who is still here and who is gone.
RAW began with a recap of last week and the attack by Randy Orton on John Cena’s father. As long as Orton gets the title, I don’t care if he attacks Cena’s grandmother. The crowd seemed like the type that Vince would want. They cheered the face-type stuff and booed the heel-type stuff. So, the chances of a mixed reaction for John Cena were limited.
The first match of the night was Umaga defending his Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy. It’s funny that a belt that used to mean a lot is being contested between a guy that just got off of suspension and one that’s about to go on suspension. Don’t get me wrong, I like both guys but it’s funny that they are fighting for the belt. The match was good. I have no complaints about one of my favorite stars winning the belt. I also liked the "Push Shelton" sign in the crowd as well as the "App. State 3:16" sign, too. More on App. State later. Now, the question is, who will Hardy feud with? The logical choice would be Shelton Benjamin, if Charlie Haas gets suspended. The next choice would be Cody Rhodes. They could throw Sandman in there. I wouldn’t mind seeing a Hardcore match between these two. I suggest you guys check out the Hardcore Championship match between Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam at Invasion from 2001. That’s some exciting stuff. Carlito would be a good choice but all fingers point to him feuding with Triple H. I could see King Booker in there but I don’t like it when a guy goes from main event level to a feud with a mid-card belt. It’s happened a lot but once Stone Cold, or the Rock, or Triple H, or HBK hit that level, they never came back down. Maybe to the tag titles, but certainly not to the secondary belt. I could see Snitsky winning the belt, but why continue to squash Jeffery Nero Hardy?
It’s pretty clear that RAW is about segments and not much wrestling. I wonder what the ratings would look like if they devoted a full hour to nothing but segments and an hour to nothing but matches. I can tell you, if I pay to go see RAW, I don’t want a bunch of talking and useless bullshit. We got to hear how Umaga was mad about losing the IC title. We got to hear about the filthy things Melina has supposedly done with Vince. We got to see Linda McMahon slap the taste out of Melina’s mouth and the weekly “DAMN!” by Ron Simmons. Woopty friggin’ doo!
Santino, who has been somewhat funny over the past few weeks, bored me to death with the trashing of Columbus. At least we got a Sandman entrance.
Tour de Beth continued this week with another defeat of Maria. Was Mickie James busy? It’s good to know there will be a Women’s Championship match at Unforgiven. I can hear the money rolling in now!
Too bad Orton wasn’t in the arena live. I was looking forward to some steroids jokes from the crowd. It was a pretty good promo. Regal let the cat out of the bag that it would be Cena & Orton for the title an Unforgiven. That brought out Cena, who got a good pop, to beat the piss out of Regal. Could this be? A face showing he’s got some nuts? I was waiting on Cena to tell Regal he makes good decisions and that he was an excellent general manager, followed by a THE CHAMP IS HERE!
Next up was London & Kendrick against the World’s Greatest Tag Team. This is stuff I could just watch all of the time. No angles, just good wrestling. Give London & Kendrick the belts, let them reign like they did on Smackdown, and restore some credibility back to the belts. The commentary was great with Cade & Murdoch.
More segments but at least Shane O’Mac is there and Coach is interim GM again.
Mickey James is hot. Jillian Hall is hot but her twins are a little big for my taste. It looks as if Cody Rhodes will be feuding with Daivari for a little while. Man, how I wish Muhammad Hassan would come back. Looks like Vince is trying to break Kenny & Mickey up in real life. He's teamed Kenny with Victoria and Mickey with Cody Rhodes. Who knows. Mickey is still smoking.
Carlito is sporting a new hair do. The handicap match between Carlito & Umaga against Triple H was a way to write Umaga off of the storylines. Blood, blood, and more blood is the only way to describe that beating. I’m somewhat glad they’re at least taking a stand against drug abuse or whatever by suspending guys. Triple H got a better pop this week than he did last week. I’m certainly glad he’s back. I guess Carlito is his next victim. After taking some shots in WWE Magazine, I think Carlito would take this personal that he’s the next victim on Triple H’s hit list.
The final segment was like the crowd chanted, boring. I can only handle so much of the McMahons before I need to go to rehab. They dominate television. It’s bad enough when Vince is on every single show but it’s another thing when the whole damn family is there. Triple H will soon enough be acknowledged as Vince’s real son-in-law. I loved the "Hi Steph" from Trips. I’m just glad they’re not doing the brother marrying the sister angle. That would really turn fans off. Here comes the money! Shane O'Mac is the shit. It’s apparent that either Kennedy is going to be the son or they’re going to shock the hell out of us. The signs are becoming more clear. They stared each other down a few weeks ago. They both “walked” funny. Vince’s middle name is Kennedy’s last name. They’re side by side on the RAW roster page. The child will be revealed in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Kennedy came out and said he was the son but Stephanie said he was a liar. Ahh, gotta love Stephanie. Chill out, sis. That was funny. If it's not Kennedy, then we're in for a huge shock. Some guy playing the part of a lawyer came out and said he represented the woman who had the kid. He then stated that by DNA test results, Kennedy wasn’t the kid. The guy screwed up like the Miz did last year during the Diva Search. Speaking of which, that torture is coming up soon. The actor, I mean, lawyer said the identity would be revealed next Monday in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Funny how they’re saying Kennedy isn’t the kid, yet, they keep pushing Green Bay as the revealing place. He did give a “hint” as to who the kid is by saying “things are looking up.” I take a few things from that. The first is it’s Kennedy because he looks up to get the mic. The next is, if it’s not Kennedy, it’s some tall guy because Vince would have to look up at him. So, if it’s not Kennedy, they must have some big surprise in store for us. If this doesn’t turn out to be big, it will go down as the biggest waste of time since the creation of the Diva Search. I did enjoy how Shane, Stephanie, and Kennedy were trying to stand in front of each other. That was pretty funny.
I give this RAW:
2 out of 4 ring posts
A special shout out to the Appalachian State Mountaineers, who this weekend, shocked the entire college football world. In case you’ve been living under a rock or haven’t followed college football, App State, or known to most students at my school, Georgia Southern, as Appy, beat Michigan this weekend. App State has won the last 2 national championships in Division 1-AA. My school has won six national titles. Anyways, they shocked the world by beating Michigan and even though they’re our rivals, I wanted to give them props for winning.
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