Ironically, the night I attended RAW was one of the early confrontations between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon. If you remember before Wrestlemania 1998, Austin took over the ring, one show, and was refusing to leave until Vince McMahon would come and get him. That was an early part of their big feud, and 3+ years later, they are feuding again, but in the early stages as well, with the WWF vs. WCW feud.
But anyway, I'll be attending Smackdown tonight, and I'm so pumped! I might even be nice when I write this column, I'm sooo fired up! Yeah, Tito... nice for a change? That's funny. The only time I'm really mean is when I start swearing. That should be an indicator when it's not just sarcasm, but myself going on a tantrum.... or at least it's bothering me.
Anyway, let's discuss RAW.
Opening interview.... Oh my Gosh, I'm going to have to live through a few of these tonight. Both Stephanie and Shane made no sense, but Paul Heyman and Steve Austin did. I believe Shane and Steph are beginning to gain the interviewing skills of their mother! Especially Shane.
The first match of the night was Matt Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam for the Hardcore Title. Pretty solid match overall, as RVD's stock is apparently rising since he's now gone over both Hardy Boyz in 2 nights. Oh God, that Froggy Splash had to have hurt on the ladder. You couldn't pay me to take that sort of bump if I was a wrestler. Ouch.
I'm impressed. Lance Storm is the NEW Intercontinental Champion, and he beat the heat-less Albert to win the strap. Sure, Albert has improved over the weeks, but he's a nobody in this feud against WCW-ECW. Storm is going to be a very fine Intercontinental Champ, indeed. I just hope the WWF doesn't give Storm the same treatment that WCW gave him when he won the US title there. Bad memories there.
We had a lot of backstage segments last night, and most of them were very solid and comedic. The Edge/Christian with the Dudleys/Booker T had me in tears, even though I'm the #2 Booker T fan in the world (Coolbeans is #1). Asking him if he was related to Mr. T was enough, but to have Edge shout "I pitty the fool who doesn't go through a table!" or whatever, that had me on the floor laughing so damn hard.
Next, it's Tajiri vs. Raven. I'm sorry, but Raven's stock isn't worth much in the WWF anymore. However, Tajiri's star is rising beyond belief. Tajiri let Raven have it with crazy kicks and holds, while Raven was attempting the same old, same old moves. The crowd went crazy when the Tarantula was slapped in. I would have went crazy if the Octopus was slapped in, but Tarantulas are good. I can't wait to see Tajiri wrestle tonight!
Rhyno vs. Undertaker was next, much to my belief. Coming in, I knew of two finishes. One, Rhyno would get pinned, or two, someone would run in. Geesh. Weird sympathy spot with the chair going into Sara once DDP ran down. Man, she sells stuff much better than her husband, and he's a professional!
Who better than Kanyon? Last time I checked, it was "Who's Better Than Kanyon", with the contraction of WHO IS. I guess since the shirt was cheap, he couldn't afford the apostrophe "s". Either that or the WWF thinks their fans are stupid, and they are giving them something easy to understand. I'll put my money on that one. Anyway, I'm glad to see the WWF having some focus on Kanyon, because he's a great performer all around and especially since he never received any respect from WCW.
Wow, a Vince McMahon interview with some purpose. Because Austin screwed McMahon by joining Team ECWCW, Vince got him back by lifting the suspension on the Rock. Holy cow... intelligent booking going before our eyes? Before this show, I was wondering how they'd explain the fact that Rock was "suspended", and there we have it. I bet I'll see Vince continue to beg for the Rock on Smackdown. D'oh.
Oh God, that Billy Gunn-Big Show at WWF NY segment was so lame. If they begin feuding, I'm going to cry.
Next, we had the Spanking match or whatever that was. It should have been the battle of the Fitness models. Both ladies have probably donned the most fitness mags out of anyone in America. Especially Torrie. Torrie won the Spanking match, which makes me wonder where this feud will go. Maybe Kiebler vs. Lita on Smackdown?
Our final match was Dudleys/Booker T vs. Kurt Angle/Edge/Christian. Pretty decent match, overall, but I just knew who was running down at the very end, and I'm no psychic! Kudos to Booker T for selling that mean table shot. Those damn tables weren't breaking for the life of them. I'll take a quote out of Ravishing Rick Rude's commentator's book and say "those are some solid oak tables!" Ah, may he rest in peace. The one where D'Von bounced on the one on the outside... YEEEEEEEOUCH!
LAST WORD: Want to know what's impressive? I wrote this whole review based off of memory. Usually, I use LoP's results as a reference so that I don't forget anything. The internet was down here at work, so I had to do everything from scratch, without any assistance. Anyway, this was a pretty entertaining show, overall, with a much better undercard than the RAW we saw next week. I hope this show sets up a great Smackdown, whooo! I'll give this show a
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@That's it for today. I'll probably slap up some Smackdown spoilers, Tito Style, later on tonight when I get back from the show. As for tomorrow's PDC.... It will be Ratings Analysis and Daily Apples, and spoiler free if you're wondering. So until then, just chill till the next episode.
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Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.