Right now, I'm ITCHING for the NFL season to start, as we only have 2 days until the Jets take on the Redskins. (Don't get me started about the pathetic pre-entertainment show they are putting on before the game.) I had 2 fantasy football drafts over the weekend, one in real life and one online, and I'm PUMPED to get the season started. Better yet, the MLB is a few weeks away from starting the playoffs, therefore making it great stuff on television for the next few months. Great channel flipping material when wrestling is on!
I have to admit that I'm compelled about the Triple H situation in the WWE. Is he hurt again? Possibly. Considering how inactive he was at Survivor Series, the injury seems legit *gasp* and re-aggrivating it can easily happen. The Undertaker was suffering the same fate in late 1999, if you remember, and he tried and tried to wrestle with it while he was tagging up with the Big Show, remember? It ended up hurting his work outs, thus giving him the pot belly he can't get rid of now, AND it never fully healed while he tried to wrestle with it. What cured it? Time Off, simply put. That's what Triple H needs, and he has a few other nagging injuries besides the torn groin that could get healed as well. Plus, he's getting married sometime in October to Stephanie McMahon, so time off for that would be nice as well. Congrats to both for finding love in the wrestling industry and I hope they do well with their marriage.
But for Triple H, he needs to drop the World Title. The time is now, for his reign at the top has demolished the RAW brand's interest. Guys like Chris Jericho, Kane, Rob Van Dam, and even partially Bill Goldberg have become damaged goods because Triple H was too strong of a heel at the top. I understand the policy of having a strong heel retain. I've seen Ric Flair's World Title reigns. Honky Tonk Man drew major business because he was a dirty heel as the Intercontinental Champion back in the day. But what if you weren't a top draw to begin with? Triple H didn't put asses in the seats. Yeah, point me out to 2000, uh huh. Sure, he probably worked his best stuff that year, but his opponents were Mick Foley, the Rock, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and eventually Steve Austin in early 2001. All were great opponents who made Triple H look like a great heel.
Let's face the facts and the Triple H marks have to agree on this: Triple H wasn't the same performer when he returned to the WWE in 2002. You can't deny that. Quad injuries aren't the easiest thing in the world to recover from, and some suggest he came back too early. Plus, when he returned, he jacked up on the weights. You can only pack so much muscle on your body before you aren't able to move around. Ask Scott Steiner, Davey Boy Smith, and many others who decided to put on more muscle than their bodies could handle. The combination of the leg injury and the excessive bulk hurt Triple H's performances to the point where he couldn't work a match properly. There are only 2 matches I've liked since Triple H's return, and that was when he was totally motivated to work them, and that was his Summerslam match against Shawn Michaels and the RAW Ric Flair match a few months back. Other than that, his matches have been dull, and poor performances are met with less "asses in seats".
I think the fans, including myself, are simply burned out on Triple H. We see him every week, for he demands lots of airtime for conversation and his matches are again, bad. A break from him would be exactly what the WWE fans ordered, and it would refresh him as well. Besides getting off at the power of being in control, I'm surprised he, too, isn't burned out from working non stop for all of these months. Just take time off, let the injuries heal, bang your brand new wife on vacation ("There's no better sex than vacation sex" -Homer Simpson). Then, he can return with a more fresh appeal to fans and we'll go from there, simply put.
The Rock will be on the season debut of Saturday Night Live on October 4th. I liked Rock's first performance, which was at the height of the newer cast's prime. However, the second attempt at SNL, when he was promoting the Scorpion King, was rather flat. Even in the final days of Will Ferrell, the writing for the show was beginning to get dry and most of the recent shows haven't been too good. The Rock brings a certain energy to anything he does, so the SNL writers should put their heads together and make this another special SNL. The first one was hilarious, with Mr. Peeps's father, the obvious Superman, the Ladies' Man, among other skits. Please, try to replicate those great performances with something actually funny, unlike the Rock's second SNL show.
Seeing Terry Funk news about him wrestling some independent show made me laugh at the usual critics who insist on Funk retiring. Why? Let the man do whatever he wants. He has an obvious love for professional wrestling, insomuch that it consumes him enough that he can't stay retired for a period of time. And the man wrestles a violent style, which baffles most because it's the style that causes injuries. But I'm sure Funk understands that his knees are totally shot. He doesn't care anymore. He knows he can't cure his injuries at his age, so hell, why not keep going? Why not keep going strong every night? I know damn well that if Terry Funk came to my area, I'd get tickets in a heartbeat to see him perform because he gives 100% every time, while other veterans just go through the motions for a paycheck.
Alright, let's get RAW...
Up next, we had Jericho's Highlight Reel... oh wait, that was DESTROYED by an angry Steve Austin, who was craving to make some matches tonight. He booked Jim Ross vs. Johnathan Coachman in a match for Unforgiven, which my friends, is an instant candidate already for Worst Match of the Year. Austin also booked Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton, a feud in which needs a lot of work. For RAW, the main event was announced to be HHH/Flair/Orton vs. Goldberg/Maven/Shawn Michaels. Fair enough. Chris Jericho would come down, very upset for his set getting destroyed. Christian would interrupt, too, yelling at Austin as well. What does Austin do? Puts them in a match against each other.
I thought Chris Jericho vs. Christian was a decent match, but man, Heel vs. Heel matches rarely draw any crowd attention. I was pretty happy with the ending result in Christian getting the cheap win, as that's the right man to win the match if you want to build a feud. I wouldn't doubt that the WWE would go for Chris Jericho as a face again, since he always gets some love from the crowd anyway.
Triple H has a backstage interview, in which he does his usual "cool face" promo routine of putting down Goldberg's wrestling ability instead of the character himself. He did the same for Booker T and RVD, and look where they are today. After a while, Bill Goldberg would enter the scene with some nasty words. He can't beatdown HHH in the interview, for Triple H can probably barely move around at this point.
Our next bout was Trish Stratus/Ivory vs. Gail Kim/Molly Holly. Does anybody else notice how happy Ivory is just to perform in this match? You can't buy that kind of enthusiasm for any wrestler. The tag match was one of the better efforts done by the failing Women's division lately. I liked the double team move done on Trish, which was almost botched due to Trish struggling to get onto the ropes with her leg scissors move. My guess with the World Title is that Molly will remain champ until Lita is ready to return. Just a hunch.
Backstage, Vince makes his appearance on RAW, trying to get forgiveness from Shane McMahon. *Yawn* The McMahons don't equal ratings.
An upset Shane McMahon goes to the ring, and after Bischoff came down as well, Kane jumped Shane and then hooked up Shane's balls to a battery via jumper cables. So last week, we had a guy completely surviving a burning dumpster (with only one bandage on his arm), and this week, we have balls getting shocked. So unrealistic and nobody will care or remember this in the long run. Get Shane off television, put the mask back on Kane, and let Kane feud with actual wrestlers and let him destroy wrestlers moreso than Bill Goldberg. With Kane's size and ability, he should be the unstoppable monster.
The next bout was Hurricane and SHIT versus La Resistance. Sloppy tag bout, for La Resistance matches haven't been well worked when it comes to tag team psychology or team work. The finish had a DQ finish when Rob Conway hit the Hurricane with the Tag Titles. What is with the WWE's hard-on about using title belts as weapons lately? It's all over Smackdown and RAW. What in the world is so great about that finish? Maybe use it every once and a while, but not every fucking week! The Dudleys would run down afterward, but fail to put one of the Frenchies through a table. Yay.
Next, it was a no-DQ match between Test/Stacy vs. Steven Richards/Victoria. Why was this match made a No Disqualification match? Did I miss something? Pretty crappy bout, with no organization. Poor Richards is one of the must underappreciated wrestlers on the WWE roster. Looks like Test and Steiner are STILL feuding, in the money making feud of the year. *rolls eyes*
The main event was good enough, as it was Evolution vs. Goldberg/HBK/Maven. I thought, for sure, that Maven would get pinned. I liked the ending, though, with Goldberg beating Orton right in Triple H's face and Goldberg calling him on afterward. That's some good psychology. This match helped save what was a terrible show to begin with.
LAST WORD: 2 decent matches save this show from a D-Range. Otherwise, the storylines are still pretty bad and the midcard is embarrassing. The Kane storyline just isn't working, especially when Shane's involved. He should be scary just based on size and NOT what he can do otherwise, such as his Tombstones outside of the ring, catching people on fire, and shocking balls. Goldberg vs. Triple H is off to a good start, but will it remain that way? We've got several shows to go before Unforgiven, so let's hope, and most of all, let's hope Triple H does the right thing for business and drops the title. I'll give this show a generous [ C+ ] (C Plus), but this roster badly needs some work, namely in the midcard for right now.
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@Just chill till the next episode...
Take care, and thanks for reading!