Columnists : Linda's Thoughts I was at Raw, and did I have a blast
By LINDA ROBIN, MOP Squad Sports Staff Writer
Sep 9, 2009 - 2:18:23 AM
Come on down. Hey, can you tell I’m still on a high from
being at last night’s Raw? Oh my God this show was so much fun to attend, my
son, his girlfriend and I loved just about everything that we saw. And what
wasn’t good was so minor that all the positive things buried them. This was one
of the best and most fun Raw’s that I have been too in a while and this time I
don’t have to say, “Wow I wish I would have been there.” This time I was so
lucky to see it live. Oh where do I begin? I cannot wait to tell you what
is was like being at the Price Is Raw.
First let me just say that the crowd went absolutely nuts
for John Cena. And this was a crowd that basically booed John Cena out of the
building for years and years. Yet last night this guy could do no wrong. Cena
without a doubt got the biggest pop of the night. I don’t think I even heard
any Cena Sucks chants. This guy ruled the arena, and the close second was The
Undertaker. Anytime Taker showed up on a video the crowd popped like crazy. Our
local CM Punk got a nice pop as well, but Cena and Taker definitely were the
majority of the fan’s favorites. Now with that said, DX was received very well.
There were plenty of DX glow sticks, and many, many fans wearing DX shirts. And
Randy Orton and Chris Jericho really got great heat. This crowd was so alive
and into just about everyone that we go. It was just a blast being there.
Things got started with a dark match with Jamie Noble vs. a
local guy named Alex Riley. This guy definitely had a good look, and he got a
very nice reaction from all of us. This was a pretty good match and it’s always
nice to see Noble out there. Then it was time for Superstars. We got two
matches for that show. The first was Sheamus vs. Yoshi Tatsu. This was a nice
match, nothing special but good. The fans seemed to be in it for the most part.
But the second match was just off the charts; it was with The Miz and Jack
Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston and Primo. Please try to catch this one. This had so much
going on, it was fast paced, it was non-stop action and you had four guys here
that just worked their asses off. I’m telling you don’t miss this one; it’s
well worth watching. And by the way, I got to see Swagger’ s entrance. That’s
always a treat for me, and boy did he get a lot of heat and you can tell he
just feeds off of it. This match was a definite crowd pleaser.
So things were going well and then it was time for the Price
is Raw, and this was a riot. Now we were in the lower level on the camera side
exactly to the side of the Titon Tron. Well that got to me immediately. I
really didn’t notice that when I bought the tickets, so I was not happy. But we
had monitors in front of us so it worked out fine. We really did have great
seats because we were right near the edge of the stage and the ring post was
like right in front of us. We couldn’t see the stage but Bob Barker would stand
toward the front where we could catch a glimpse. We definitely could see
Contestant’s Row very well and I got a kick out of Santino so much last night.
In fact Jillian and IRS also contributed a lot to the show. And wow Howard
Finkle was awesome. It was just like listening to Johnny Olsen back in the day.
Hey and let’s not forget the interaction between Barker and Chris Jericho. I
was so looking forward to Jericho getting involved with the whole game show
thing and I wasn’t disappointed a bit by the way it played out. I got a major
kick out of watching these two go at it on the mic and watching Jericho’s
facials while Baker was talking to him. There were some funny lines here by
Barker and all of this just made the opener that much more fun to watch. And
props to the Bella twins who played Barker’s Beauties so dare I say,
BEAUTIFULLY? They did everything right. I’ll tell you WWE did a super job
in bringing back some nice memories of the Price is Right. And I am happy to
say that my theory that when the opening with a host is good the show is
usually damn good, and that held true last night. That opener was the beginning
of some really good things to come.
And the first match was just the start of some good matches.
Chris Jericho won the bid and had a chance to win a lovely trip to Hawaii if he
could beat his opponent. This was another of Jericho’s finest moments when he
was walking to the ring and checking out what the prize was. For a guy that
didn’t want to be bothered he was sure interested in going to Hawaii. I just
loved Jericho last night and I loved his match against MVP. This was so much
better than their last encounter. Jericho really got the best out of MVP and
watching these two in the ring was really a pleasure to see. I didn’t care for
their match a few weeks ago, but last nights match was such an improvement. MVP
got the win, which I expected because I don’t see MVP and Mark Henry beating
Show and Jericho Sunday at Breaking Point. Wow what a great start to Raw.
I couldn’t hear too much of what DX and Bob Barker were
saying but I did get the line from Shawn asking Barker how to get DiBiase and
Rhodes neutered and spayed. Of course I loved that line. I watched all the
backstage segments when I got home and believe me I laughed like it was the
first time that I had seen them. Granted the wheel that was used for this
segment was cheesy but you can’t have everything and this was still a funny
segment. I was baffled how Chris Masters made it into this match with Randy
Orton against DX and I can’t say I was thrilled about it, but this was just
another fun segment with Barker and DX.
The next match was my first complaint of the night. It was
Chavo vs. Evan Bourne. Now for the past two weeks this is the match up that I
had wanted to see, and right off Bourne got a massive pop and things were
looking good. But I guess all good things must come to an end. Unfortunately Hornswoggle
came in and squirt gunned Chavo to death. This match could have been something
so sweet, but bringing the little guy out was such a mistake. Bourne didn’t
even get to use that cool finisher of his, The Shooting Star Press and I think
that’s what really pissed me off. And by the way I don’t know what move it was
but it definitely looked like Chavo hurt his knee. First I thought it was real,
then a work but I believe it was a legit injury. So far I haven’t read anything
about Chavo, so maybe he’s just a great actor.
I know there are some that found Cody Rhodes explanation for
why he didn’t go after Randy Orton after he RKO’d his father, Dusty rather
absurd. But hey I’m a simple woman and I was fine with what Rhodes said. I
thought Cody held his own on the mic and I happened to totally like this match
against John Cena. I thought this was another very good match. Again some are
upset that even with Orton’s interference Cena was able to end things with his
Attitude Adjustment on Rhodes. I guess I just saw it as a good match. Ah, so
Dave Batista is making a special appearance next week to make a special
announcement. I think they want us to think that he’s announcing his
retirement. I don’t see that happening at all. I think big Dave is going to
announce that his return is going to happen sooner than first thought. I think
I’m more excited about Trish Stratus hosting than the Batista appearance. But
that doesn’t mean that I’m not happy to see Dave on there too, because I am.
Okay so we got another round of bids for the Price Is Raw
with A.J. Pierzynski as the next contestant. Well
since I am a White Sox fan I was just about the only one in my area cheering
for him, which made it a lot of fun for me. This round was good because Santino
won and this time if he could body slam his opponent he would win a nice hot
tub. The Bella’s showed off the prize and Santino wanted to know if they came
with it. It was so nice to have Santino back to what he was months ago before
Wrestlemania and Santina. I can’t tell you how much he made me laugh. Okay now
this next thing is totally true, really it is. When they said he had to body
slam his opponent I turned to my son’s girlfriend, Penny and said it’s going to
be the Big Show, and it was. You have no idea how smart that made me feel. It
was nice to see how impressed both she and my son were. Of course my ego grew
during that time. And once Show slammed Santino I knew Mark Henry was next and
I told her that it’s going to be Mark Henry, and again I looked like I really
knew my stuff. They should know how horrible I do when it comes to predictions.
Okay so after the Big Show slammed Santino, he walked by our section and a few
of us yelled out SANTINO. He looked up in our direction and did that
embarrassed smile and waved to us, so that was cool.
Now the next part was another downer of the show it was
Henry facing Big Show to see who would get slammed first. Again I knew Show
would get slammed because as I said in the beginning I don’t see him losing
with Jericho on Sunday. I just wish that instead of letting this thing go on as
long as it did, that they could have let it go for about two minutes, then have
Henry slam him. This thing just dragged. It was rather painful.
And now it was time for the main event. It has been a long
time since I have seen Triple H and Shawn Michaels at an event, so this was
like the perfect match for me. Well maybe a perfect match had Chris Masters not
been in there. Okay listen in all fairness to Masters I have to give this guy
props too for putting on a hell of a match against Evan Bourne during last
week’s Superstars. We get the show on Sunday mornings so that’s why it’s taken
me this long to mention it, but Masters looked damn good in this match. He
showed me a lot and maybe if they could have him talk and do more than the
Master lock this guy could add to Raw. So kudos to a very good Superstars
match, but still in last night’s main event I wasn’t that happy to have him
there. Yet the match did turn out to be a good one and the crowd loved DX and
hated Randy Orton. That too is so different from the last time I was there when
Orton was getting a ton of cheers.
The match was very entertaining and I loved the ending with
DX and Legacy taking it to the back. I thought that all came off well. Now I
have one negative to say about Orton and Cena. I watched all of this on TV when
I got home but trust me the part where Orton RKO’d Cena on the chair was bad on
TV but came off much worse live. When I saw Cena put his arms up I couldn’t
believe how pathetic that looked. It really took away from how “dangerous” that
all was supposed to turn out. But other than that it was a very good main
event.
And things didn’t stop once Raw ended. Cena recovered and
along with DX they did the famous what section can cheer the loudest. I have to
say this was pretty damn funny. Hunter and Shawn take it all in like it’s the
most serious thing ever and Cena was out trying to judge the loudest section.
And then he started working a section of the crowd and really this was a lot of
fun. They all left the ring shaking hands with the fans. Cena left DX out there
and they really went around shaking as many hands as they could. The funniest
thing had to be when a little boy I would say about 6 years old ran out and
past security. He had his DX glow sticks and ran to Hunter. Hunter put him on
his shoulder and then Shawn joined them at the ramp and they did the crotch
chops. This kid was just eating it up. When he was done a couple of other kids
ran out and I missed this one part. My son said one was by Shawn and there was
a policeman standing there. So Shawn pretended to frisk the kid and signaled to
the cop that the kid was safe. Jason couldn’t stop laughing and I wish I paid
more attention to Shawn, but I was looking at Hunter Okay I admit it. Then once
that was done along with Triple H and the other kid they did the crotch chops
again. I just had such a great time and I can’t wait to go again.
I’m sorry this is so long but I had so much to share with
you. I will return over the weekend with my Breaking Point predictions so start
sending yours in any time. Also many of you know that I’m a guest on a radio
show on Saturday nights, Over The Ropes. I get to talk to Nick and Mike two
really cool guys and they make me feel like I’m more important than Linda
McMahon, now that’s big. Well they now have a message board that you can go to.
It’s there for all of you wrestling fans and you can ask questions and I know
Mike and Nick would be happy to answer them. I know that I will be registering
at the following site. Here’s the link, http://overtheropes.ipbfree.com/index.php?act=idx. Also
you can email me questions about wrestling and I would be more than happy to
share them on the show and we can try to answer them or at least talk about
what’s on your mind. Okay don’t forget this weekend my infamous predictions.