Right now, I'm trying to get through the Bobby Heenan book, although I've had a lot of school work recently. I will say that I applied to receive a review copy of Scott Keith's new book, "Tonight... In this Very Ring". If they decide to send it to me, I'll drop whatever I'm reading at the time and immediately read that book and provide a book review. Hey, when someone is kind enough to send me something free, I'll make the most of it.
Monday Night RAW did a 3.9 in the ratings. The announcement that Vince McMahon would be at the show, with a "big announcement", must have made some fans watch again. I just wonder if those fans will keep watching or if RAW will go below the 3.5 mark on a consistent basis again. Given how bad RAW has been the past 2 weeks, I'd say it's safe to say that this ratings success will be over in 2 or 3 weeks. I guarantee it, unless Goldberg gets signed and sparks more interest or something like that.
I really have nothing else of importance to say right now.
On to the Wrath!
First of all, where were the surprise guests? If you're going to say Gene Okerland and Shane McMahon, you're on crack because they are both under WWE contract and active within the WWE. Austin, however, is still under WWE contract but not active. He wasn't there... Vince is too disrespectful to ever apologize to Bret for the Montreal incident and a lot of the other things he's done to Hart to get him on the show. I'm sure it doesn't take THAT much money to get the likes of Sable or Sunny on television these days, considering they have SO much to do these days. Yeah, like sitting around the house pays well. And Chyna... well, what is she exactly doing these days, besides some very cheap appearances on shows nobody watches? Well, I'll give her the success she's having in Japan, but other than that...
Secondly, I hate rigged awards shows.
The first award was for DIVA OF THE DECADE, and good ol' Trish Stratus won the award. Now granted, Trish is probably the BEST WRESTLER of all of the divas that has been on RAW, but come on! Sunny was the hottest thing on the internet in the late 1990's, and she opened many doors for other valets to come into the WWE and make tons of money based on looks. Sable took that ball even further, and was a big part of the WWE's success in 1998 because she was so damn hot that year, with her Playboy and all. Then you have Chyna, who was a good part of DX and a successful wrestler on her own. Trish didn't do much until early 2001 when she began wrestling, and yet she wins this award? No get, no get.
By the way, seeing the blurred WWF logos on the highlights began to get really annoying for yours truly.
Next, it was the DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME award. RAW has had a lot of repeated spots throughout the years, such as the table spots with Mae Young. I love the winner of this award, as that missed moonsault by Kurt Angle was just devastating. My memory is shot on what move would top that, to be honest with you. Maybe the dropping of the dumpster with Funk and Foley, although that was quite gimmicked? I don't know.
Then, we had a bad gimmicks segment. I laughed HARD when Stacy Kiebler mentioned a "wrestling dentist", which prompted the great New York fans to start shouting "KANE". Yes! That was fantastic! We then run through all of the WWE bad gimmicks. You know, I'd comment on this one, but Mr. Scott Keith has the best response to this, so let me quote it from 411wrestling.com: "Stacy introduces your roundup of bad gimmicks (“A dentist who has bad teeth?” she asks, prompting the drunk crowd to yell “KAAAAAANE!”), like IRS, Techno Team 2000, Kwang, Dean Douglas, Damien Demento, Gillberg, The Real Man’s Man, Men on a Mission, Dink, The MVP, Salvatore Sincere, Max Moon, Earthquake, Bastion Booger, Berzerker, Repo Man, Adam Bomb, Waylon Mercy, Duke Droese, Hakushi, Giant Gonzalez, Tatanka, Mantaur and others. Good thing we’ve moved past that silliness and onto more mature things like necrophilia and Al Wilson dying by sex-induced heart attack. Seriously, most of those are NOT bad gimmicks in the least. Dean Douglas was a fine gimmick ruined by politics, IRS was a good midcard character, Salvatore Sincere was two years before his time, Earthquake was pushed as a main event guy for years, Berzerker was a perfectly good midcard gimmick, Waylon Mercy is about to be redone by Sean O’ Haire and Adam Bomb was just a bad wrestler, not a bad gimmick. Arbitrarily saying that things that worked fine in context of the times are silly now is unfair to the people who originally worked hard to make the gimmicks work. " Now that's some good stuff.
I agreed with the TELL ME I DIDN'T JUST SEE THAT award, which had the 3 faces of Mick Foley winning it. How hard is it to get Foley to come in and accept this award? Honestly? To this day, I loved that match with Foley and Triple H. The set up with Dude Love and Mankind talking on the screen was a perfect set up for the return of Cactus Jack for this match. Man, I miss Foley so much, at least the one who was healthy enough to wrestle.
Next, we had Ric Flair introducing a highlight reel of the wrestlers who have died in the past years. Where was Louie Spicolli and Bertha Fae? The WWE actually ripped on Bertha earlier in the show with Shawn Michaels. And you wonder why the likes of Goldberg, Sting, Foley, Steve Austin, and others want no part of the WWE due to its content or respect towards the wrestling business. I don't believe Andre the Giant was ever on an edition of Monday Night RAW, too, but any tribute to him is very worth it.
The Rock won the GIMME THE MIC award, and delivered a taped interview from Hollywood, which was acted like it was live in the studio. The WWE couldn't fly Rocky in or at least do a live feed? Oh yeah, the Rock is bigger than the WWE now. Forgot about that. That taped interview was a disaster, given how the WWE didn't expect the New York crowd to boo the Rock or scream "Boring, boring, boring" during it. This was embarrassing, but what the WWE deserves if they are going to take the cheap route on an interview or not flying the guy to WWE NY or the World to accept the award. Good rips on Stephanie, though.
Next, it was the SHUT UP AND KISS ME award, which had Triple H and Stephanie winning the award. I agree with the winners here, given that they were married and all and dominated the storylines in 2000. Funny how Stephanie named all of the things that happened during their relationship, such as being drugged up for the wedding and faking a pregnancy. I'd say that their playfulness with Stephanie spanking Triple H's bare ass proves that they have not broken up, and the continuous stupid angles with Steiner on RAW prove that the Game is still playing "bury the boner" in Stephanie McMahon.
NETWORK DIFFICULTIES award was next. The winner was Mae Young, who gave birth to a hand. What? You mean that USA or TNN has received more letters about that than the many attempts at portraying mud wrestling, lesbianism, or a guy pulling a gun out on another guy? I don't think so. USA Networks were flooded with calls in 1997 regarding Pillman pulling out the gun, and Jake "the Snake" Roberts was actually fired from the WWF as a writer for that sketch, as he was the scapegoat for the situation, which is why he's so bitter at the WWE today. Bullshit, brother.
RAW SUPERSTAR of the DECADE was an easy one, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Who else could it be? Bret Hart or Mick Foley would be a good close 2nd, but nobody compared to Austin, who actually made RAW watchable in 1997 and brought success to the WWE in 1998. Vince McMahon stated that Austin was "uninvited" to the show, and I sincerely hope that's just the beginning of the angle to bring Austin back to television. Plenty of Austin mentions and highlights throughout the night should back that reasoning up, I hope.
BEST RAW MATCH went to the TLC Match from last year or whenever that was. Granted, it was fun to watch, but hardly the best RAW match. The Triple H vs. Chris Jericho match as a hot opener from RAW comes to mind, as does the classic tag match of Jericho/Benoit vs. Austin/Triple H. That tag match, especially, should have won it, given that it was a big Triple H moment, which the show was often promoting last night, given that Triple H finished the match with a torn quad. How about that 5 on 5 tag match between DX/Radicalz vs. Too Cool/Rikishi/Rock/Foley? How about Terry Funk vs. Mick Foley? Out of the 10 years of RAW, this TLC match won it all, especially with the win being such bullshit as Kane never took a bump in the match to win it?
Here's a complete listing of the top 10 RAW moments...
10) This is Your Life with Rock and Mick Foley
9) Austin runs over Rock's car with a Monster Truck
8) The final Nitro, where Vince McMahon ripped WCW and Shane ended up buying it
7) The birth of Mr. Socko and Austin attacks Vince in the hospital
6) DX's Nation of Domination parody
5) Mike Tyson and Steve Austin confrontation
4) DX outside of WCW shows
3) Hogan and Rock staredown to hype Wrestlemania
2) Owen Hart tribute
1) Steve Austin hoses down Vince McMahon and the Corporation with beer
Let me comment on this. You COULD argue that #10, Foley and Rock, should be #1 because it's the highest rated RAW segment of all time. That won't be beat. I thought #1 was a bad choice, as I'd either put the Tyson confrontation or the Hogan/Rock staredown at #1. I agree that the Nation Parody, Mr. Socko, and the DX outside of WCW shows should be on this list. I thought Austin throwing the IC belt into the river was a bigger Austin/Rock moment than the monster truck. I also think that the WCW segment with Vince and Shane buying it should easily be in the top 10. But hey, the 2 million votes here came from "fans", if you'll call them that, voting for these segments on WWE.com, as if it could ever be rigged. (rolls eyes)
LAST WORD: The WWE should have just ran highlights of the winners or show complete segments as to why something won an award or whatnot. Too much talk in the WWE World led for a rather bush-league type of show by the WWE. I disagree highly with many of the winners, and but then again, my votes aren't what the majority of WWE fans think, so who knows? After hyping this show for several weeks, I thought the WWE failed to deliver something really special for the fans who are STILL watching, mind you, as the fan base has been cut in half since 2000. The WWE just isn't having a good start this year.
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