Hardy’s Reaction: Jeff Hardy did a very good job in selling his Intercontinental Championship victory. The initial response of shock was good and worked perfectly under the situation. It was a shocking victory and he reacted that way at first after getting kicked out of the ring. But after the initial surprise wore off, his celebration at being excited over becoming the new I.C. Champion was fun to watch. The Titles should be held up as being important and having Hardy react so favorably to winning the Title shows how important the Title is. Umaga’s reaction to losing the Title was strong as well.
Santino Marella: Once again, Santino had a good night. He has really found himself in this heel role. He has great timing and has excelled in his recent attempts at humor. In addition to his funny lines about Sandman, and the start of a possible feud there, it was good to see his relationship with Maria develop with his volunteering her for a match against Beth Phoenix. It was a case where WWE had character development, plot development, and they did it in an entertaining way.
Cena Snaps: Well, if WWE wanted to give John Cena an edge to his character (which some would argue is long overdue) they certainly accomplished that mission. His snapping on William Regal was very good. He had a real intensity to him, which is when he’s at his best. He played his part perfectly. It was interesting to see him consider the ramifications of his actions before attacking Regal. For his part, Regal did a good job of selling the attack, specifically the viscous STFU. With Randy Orton stepping up his game as of late, and with this new edge to Cena, their feud is really heating up and is something to look forward to.
Haas & Benjamin vs. London & Kendrick: This was a good tag team match, which isn’t surprising given the talent involved. I would have loved to see it go twice as long, and considering the fact that it was a #1 Contenders Match, a longer time certainly would have been appropriate. But it was very fun to watch while it lasted. Both teams played to their strengths very well. The typical heel isolation of Paul London was well done as London did a great job of trying to make the tag, and Haas & Benjamin did a great job of allowing him to get very close to Brian Kendrick without making the tag. That is an example of a series of spots that worked well, but would have worked even better in a longer match. If WWE ever decided to actually feature the tag teams in a meaningful way, here are the two teams that should be at the top of the division.
“Things Are Looking Up”: I am definitely tiring of the Vince McMahon’s bastard son storyline. But, “things are looking up.” Despite a rather lackluster closing segment (more later), Raw did have a very good ending with the revelation that Mr. Kennedy is not McMahon’s son, the fact that the identity will be revealed next week, and the clue stated above. Part of why I am giving this a Hit is that if WWE actually delivers on their promise (which I am skeptical about), we will finally get the identity of McMahon’s son, and the storyline can actually finally move forward. And that is a very good thing. The idea of a clue is nice as well, as the fans (and the ECW and Smackdown announcers) have a chance to decipher the clue and figure out who the son is.
RAW MISSES
Carlito’s Haircut: I know this doesn’t really matter to the quality of Raw, but I was really disappointed by the fact that Carlito cut his hair. His hair is part of his trademark. It was as much a part of his gimmick as spitting apples. He just didn’t look right. I was distracted by the haircut and that means it gets a Miss.
Triple H vs. Carlito & Umaga: This was a disappointing match for a number of reasons. For one thing, they really hyped the match several times during the show, both before and after it was turned into a handicap match. It was the Main Event match. It was something that fans were looking forward to all night long. But it lasted about a minute before ending on a disqualification. It was a big disappointment that they didn’t deliver a match that was so heavily hyped. It makes sense as they are likely going for Carlito vs. Triple H at Unforgiven. But it was still disappointing. It was also bad to have Triple H as the unstoppable face (once again) taking out the previously unstoppable heel. How did that make Jeff Hardy look? His Championship victory earlier in the show was a great moment that was undermined by Triple H destroying Umaga later in the show. They apparently had to have a reason why Umaga won’t be on t.v. for a month, and they decided to have Triple H put him out which will not make the Triple H haters happy (note, I am NOT a Triple H hater). I wouldn’t mind Triple H taking out Umaga under other circumstances. But considering they had no build up to it, and considering Hardy has a feud with Umaga, it was a bad decision.
McMahon Family Saga: As I said above, I am tiring of the McMahon’s bastard son angle. Part of why I am getting tired of it is that it has meant too much McMahon on Raw, ECW, and Smackdown. Here was a case where everything took a backseat to the McMahon family. We had multiple scenes in the back with Vince, Coach, and the lawyers. We got appearances in the back by Stephanie, Linda, and Shane. Then it all climaxed with the final segment of the show as each McMahon came out to his or her own entrance music. None of them had anything interesting, compelling, or entertaining to say. I just didn’t care about what they had to say. Things picked up nicely once Mr. Kennedy showed up. He did a good job of getting Vince to side against the rest of the family. And the show had a strong ending with the hook for next week. But it was too little, too late to save the segment over all. It was just too much McMahon, and none of it was fun to watch.
Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.
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