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By Chris Newth, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor

WWE Monday Night Raw
October 15, 2007
Upcoming PPV: Cyber Sunday (second-to-last episode before PPV)

RAW STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the tenth edition of Raw Storylines and Feuds.

For those wondering about the Intrigue Level system that I employ, you can refer to the numbers as follows:

10 (excellent), 9 (great), 8-6 (very good, good, pretty good), 5 (decent; has its good and bad qualities), 4-3 (needs work, poor), 2 (bad), 1 (terrible)

Before I begin this week, I'd just like to announce a new feature for this column that involves you, the intelligent, creative reader. Two weeks after every PPV, I'm going to post one reader email regarding Raw, ECW, and Smackdown feuds (three in total). What am I looking for? The best storyline idea for any current WWE feud. Be as descriptive and detailed as you can, but please don't make it more than 15 to 20 lines. Decisions will be based on creativity, clarity, and relevancy.

This is your chance to have an idea posted on PWTorch.com. The goal is to take a feud currently ongoing between WWE wrestlers and make it more interesting. Shake up the cruiserweight division with a cool new booking idea or add an exciting element to the main event rivalry. Just send your ideas to the email address at the bottom of this article. Be sure that you wait, though. This feature won't begin until 2 weeks following Cyber Sunday. I'll have more information on it as we near that date.

WWE Champion RANDY ORTON vs. SHAWN MICHAELS or JEFF HARDY or MR. KENNEDY (2 weeks)

So the relatively new WWE Champion meets with Raw GM William Regal as the show kicks off to suggest a great idea: a triple threat between Orton's possible opponents for Cyber Sunday. Regal, however, has other plans in mind. And these plans are good. In fact, Mr. McMahon again complimented Regal's match-making skills. That's because The Most Royal GM in WWE used the same formula McMahon structured for No Mercy two weeks ago—the same guy fights in three different matches in one night.

Orton started against Jeff Hardy, but the match ended with a distraction by Kennedy that left Hardy on the wrong end of an RKO. In the second match, Orton faced Mr. Kennedy, but that match ended in a disqualification when Jeff Hardy returned to seek revenge for his earlier loss; Orton wins another one via DQ. In the final match that pitted Randy Orton against Shawn Michaels, Mr. Kennedy interfered by attacking The Heartbreak Kid, which resulted in another disqualification, giving HBK the win.

The Orton fight night worked pretty well, but the interferences and distractions during each and every match were both predictable and tiresome. The concept, however, is unique. It is uncommon to find one person placed in a series of more than two bouts in a single show. But of course, it was inevitably flawed because they pitted the Legend Killer against his three potential PPV opponents, which meant that there could be no clean finish on free TV for anyone involved.

Everyone played their roles nicely, except it would have been nice to see Mr. Kennedy deviate from the black-and-white heel approach. Maybe instead of falling in line and fending off babyfaces such as Hardy and Michaels—a position that typifies the heel in this scenario—Kennedy should start attacking Orton with the excuse that he's trying to earn votes. If Orton was to question him later about it, Kennedy can just reply with something like, "Hey man, I'm just doing what I have to do." Heels look out for themselves; they shouldn't appear to be more against the faces in the contest when the other heel is the champion with the target on his back.

Overall, it's a decent program with a running narrative tying everything into this unique upcoming PPV. The best part about the entire feud is that it attempts to legitimize Jeff Hardy and Mr. Kennedy as main event players worthy of a WWE Championship opportunity. I think that the audience is becoming increasingly aware of the lack of roster depth and the desperate need to create new, interesting stars at the top of the card (and are therefore willing to accept a Jeff Hardy and a Mr. Kennedy in the main event).

As for its drawbacks, WWE has again made it sickeningly clear for whom they want fans to vote. Michaels, deservingly or not, has been placed center stage. The spotlight has not been taken from him and placed on Hardy or Kennedy at all. The overall feeling, the show booking, and the announcers all dictate a deliberately predetermined candidate in the one PPV that's supposed to be inherently unpredictable. Then again, WWE would argue that they are just influencing the vote, not telling people who they should vote for.

The problem with Cyber Sunday's premise is that despite the fact that the viewers can vote for what they want—something that you'd assume only means less work for the writers—WWE still has to schedule and write each episode. They still must meticulously plan, only this month leaving more openings in the storylines.

Now that Hardy and Kennedy have been added as potential WWE Title contenders, they must be engaged to a certain extent and in a certain way that they wouldn't have been otherwise. It's a cumbersome task that's made all the more challenging with a concept like a legitimate voting-based PPV event. It's not like they can just say, "okay, since the fans are handling the booking, we don't have that much to do." If anything, they have more.

Solid storyline based on the whole voting dynamic, strong character variety and ability, and formulaic, but sturdy booking. Overall, good feud thus far.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 7.5 [up 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Shawn Michaels: Randy Orton
Randy Orton: Dusty Rhodes & Cody Rhodes
Jeff Hardy: Umaga, Shelton Benjamin
Mr. Kennedy: no notable feuds since returning from injury and suspension

HORNSWOGGLE vs. WILLIAM REGAL & JONATHAN COACHMAN (6 weeks)

It's still uncertain as to whether William Regal is still involved in this feud, but it really doesn't matter. Categorizing the rivalry between Hornswoggle and Jonathan coachman as an attempt at cartoonish comedy has become practically literal this week.

The Little Bastard continued his game of Hide and Seek with Coachman, a sequel to last week's shenanigans. The only difference this week came in the form of a cartoonish stick of TNT planted under the ring and hooked to a box with a lever for full Saturday-morning effect. Hornswoggle tricked Coach into trying to blow him up, got him to play Wily Coyote by crawling under the ring to fix the ostensibly defective bomb, and proceeded to magically get the thing to work when he pushed down on the lever.

You know, if the Hornswoggle storyline is never going to advance to anything serious and is instead going to stick to a form of WWE comedy, they might as well go over-the-top with it. This segment certainly qualifies. It was utterly bizarre. It possessed that level of shock that gets you to think to yourself, "Am I really seeing this?" My next question is: how much further can they go? I'm almost interested to see how much more cartoonish they can get, because this segment set a pretty impressive standard when it comes to bizarre fiction.

Interestingly, Jonathan Coachman noted that he interprets Mr. McMahon's words as an order to dispose of his greenest son. Other than that little tidbit, nothing new was revealed to the audience this week. As a storyline, it has major drawbacks, but if they really go all out and one-up themselves each week with increasingly cartoonish scenes, it might actually have some value as being good in a bad way.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4.5 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
Hornswoggle: Jamie Noble
William Regal: n/a
Jonathan Coachman: n/a

Vince McMahon [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

TRIPLE H vs. MR. McMAHON & UMAGA (8 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

Triple H took the week off to further sell the incessant pummeling he received last week via Umaga (and Randy Orton to some extent). And in his absence, Mr. McMahon took it upon himself to feed another nameless jobber to The Samoan Bulldozer.

Umaga displayed all of his signature moves on the little English kid in three separate matchups, each a preview to Cyber Sunday's Umaga-Triple H bout where fans can choose the match stipulation. First, McMahon had Umaga and the jobber fight under No Disqualification rules (which translates to no rules). After quickly and decisively winning that contest, Umaga tore the kid up in a First Blood mini-match, which saw The Samoan Bulldozer use multiple Samoan Spikes until blood started spewing out of the jobber's mouth. And lastly, McMahon set up a brief Steel Cage Match. And the jobber was able to pull off an amazing, surprising victory! Just kidding. Umaga beat the crap out of him.

The segment ran long and was basically used as an excuse to show what kind of matches are available and what kind of challenges await The Game. It was as exciting as three consecutive jobber matches can be. At least there was a point to it. The goal was to expose the different match choices and to get Umaga more wins to show how unstoppable he really is. People may criticize this part of the show (mostly for its length), but there's no denying that it clearly set objectives and met each one.

Overall, the feud between Umaga and Triple H is actually building nicely. It's unfortunate that the conclusion is already as clear as it can be, with everybody knowing who's walking out the winner come Cyber Sunday. However, we've seen The Game beat Umaga before—namely at No Mercy—so this feud has become more about seeing Hunter exact revenge on the monster and less about his ability to win matches against him. In that sense, this rivalry has been handled very strategically. Umaga was given a lot of credibility last week, and he unquestionably got the better of Triple H. Now fans wait for Hunter's return, and then you have a strong match heading into next Sunday's PPV.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 8 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
Mr. McMahon: Bobby Lashley
Triple H: King Booker
Umaga: Jeff Hardy

CODY RHODES vs. HARDCORE HOLLY (4 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

The steady progression in this feud has been stellar. One of the best qualities of the Rhodes-Holly rivalry is its simplicity. Cody Rhodes wants to earn respect, and Hardcore Holly is more than willing to dish out serious challenges in order to test Cody's skills.

Holly's role as the grizzled ring veteran who keeps giving Cody chances to beat him is much better than the usual role he's in. As a straight heel, Hardcore Holly never fully gets anywhere. It might just be that the writers haven't given him much or that he doesn't fully commit to a certain character, but when he plays a heel, it just looks like he's a mean guy. Now, that could be a decent way to go, but it will never really get you over in and of itself.

As for Cody, he's doing a solid job acting as the kid who won't quit (which audience's love). Plus, he's inherently an underdog (which audience's automatically root for). Also, he adds a twist of his own. It seems as though he just can't control his really cocky strut. When he makes his entrance, it looks like it's just the most natural thing to him, something that he doesn't even think about.

Audiences are going to pick up on this if they haven't already, but that's not necessarily bad. If he has a slightly arrogant side, there's nothing wrong with that. Every babyface should have some flaw, and overconfidence might be a great one for him. WWE would be wise to play into this aspect of the story.

The events this week that saw Cody getting as close as ever to finally beating Hardcore Holly were really well-orchestrated. Some of those pin attempts were convincing as possible wins. It will be interesting to see where it goes next, but they shouldn't just continue to loop this type of match over and over. Something new must happen, but it can go in many different directions.

Maybe Cody will find that he must cheat to win, just to say that he at least won. Or maybe Cody will finally get a quick pinfall, but Hardcore Holly says that one win is nothing, that only multiple victories will prove how good he is. Or maybe, just maybe, Hardcore Holly will allow him to get a win (and the audience will be able to detect this somehow) so that the kid doesn't quit. It could even lead to Hardcore Holly as a mentor in a training role where he gives Cody tips while fighting Raw jobbers in the coming weeks, with a final Holly-Cody the-student-beats-the-teacher story unfolding later.

The directions are endless, and the story is identifiable, well-known, and effective. They're on the right track, and it's one of the most interesting feuds airing on Raw at the moment.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6 [up 1 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Cody Rhodes: Randy Orton
Hardcore Holly: n/a

PAUL LONDON & BRIAN KENDRICK vs. World Tag Team Champions LANCE CADE & TREVOR MURDOCH? (7 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

So Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch handle commentary this week as The Highlanders fight in tag team action against The Highfliers. The interesting thing here is that it's so confusing. I'm not even sure WWE knows where it wants this one to go. The Raw tag team division is being structured on three separate teams (an odd number), one of which are the reigning World Tag Team Champions.

The roles aren't currently clear, and the storyline is just a jumble at the moment. Are The Highlanders even heel or face? That much isn't even clear. A few weeks ago it seemed like they made a heel turn, but then they were back working babyface and claiming that they didn't want to face London and Kendrick because they just wanted a tag team title shot.

So, without knowing what's going on, this feud is really difficult to judge. I think it's probably worth adding The Highlanders to the feud's heading because they are consistently active in one way or another each week. There's obviously some type of effort to involve everyone, but no specification was made as to where each team fits in the general tag team landscape.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 3.5 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
London and Kendrick: no notable feuds since being drafted from Smackdown
Cade & Murdoch: The Hardys

CANDICE MICHELLE vs. Women's Champion BETH PHOENIX? (8 weeks)

Last week's six diva tag match raised the question of whether Candice was even in line to receive another Women's Championship opportunity in the near future. That question was put to rest Monday when Candice decisively and quickly squashed Jillian.

Beth Phoenix cut a backstage promo about herself, something she does pretty well. And next week, Candice will indeed get her rematch for the title on Raw. This setup actually works out really well, as Cyber Sunday may include a multi-diva matchup like they seem to do every year. If that's the case, having Candice get—and ultimately lose—her title match the week before the PPV clears the Women's division of a Number One Contender; Beth will have no current challengers.

It will be interesting to see where things go after Candice exits the title picture. If I were writing it, I would have Beth open up a Women's Title Invitational, where each week she faces anyone who wants a shot at the belt. Ultimately, she bulldozes through Jillian, Maria, Candice (a third time), Melina, and Torrie Wilson (who makes a surprising appearance from Smackdown). Then she actually has a long feud with Mickie James, who could end up winning in a battle royal type match after eliminating Beth.

This Candice-Phoenix feud, though, is at its end. It was decent overall, but there isn't much excitement when you had trouble believing that Candice could beat Melina. The credibility issue will be the biggest challenge for Candice Michelle in the coming months. It has a way of hindering an otherwise fine feud. That isn't to say that she hasn't improved drastically in recent months, but she does have a lot of work ahead of her.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
Candice Michelle: Melina
Beth Phoenix: n/a



The description of the Hardy-Kennedy rivalry is adequately stated in the top section discussing Orton-Michaels-Hardy-Kennedy, but I do want to reserve this spot so that I can give a distinctive and individual intrigue level.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6.5 [up 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Jeff Hardy: Umaga, Shelton Benjamin
Mr. Kennedy: no notable feuds since returning from injury and suspension

SANTINO MARELLA (w/ Maria) vs. VAL VENIS (3 weeks)

Santino has to steal a win against a semi-injured Val Venis. I don't think I can remember the last time Val Venis got a victory on live Raw television, and yet he's somehow too difficult for Santino to beat without cheating?

WWE has a breakout star in Marella if they decide to use him correctly. His personality shines whenever he speaks, and that's a natural thing that is lacking in a lot of other performers' promos. With a character defined and a storyline that's relatively strong, it's time to put some steam behind Santino and let viewers see that he's someone worth rooting for (or someone who can provide a credible threat to a beloved babyface).

First they pitted him against Ron Simmons in a feud that really can be credited with jumpstarting a fresh character after Santino's less than impressive career as a face Intercontinental Champion. The problem was that he was never able to accomplish anything in the ring. He never beat Ron Simmons cleanly, and Simmons is, for all intents and purposes, a non-wrestler. Now the same mistake is being applied in this feud. Shouldn't Santino be given a few Raw jobbers to beat in order to gain more recognition as an actual in-ring competitor worthy of something beyond mic time?

Val Venis seemed like the perfect choice. He hasn't been featured on Raw as anything but a jobber for years. And Santino still can't beat him without holding onto the ropes. What does that say about Marella? What kind of message does this send to people who would like to see Santino climb the proverbial ladder of success?

As for the Maria situation, her character seems to be at an interesting point in the storyline. She told Ron Simmons weeks ago that she didn't know how to tell Santino that maybe they should start seeing other people. However, she's still with him. The idea that she was slightly annoyed because Santino cheated in his match but celebrated with him regardless suggests that she's at a point where she just wants to support her boyfriend no matter what he does. The story has been brewing for awhile. How can the babyface girlfriend not recognize the heelish tactics of her lover? Well, now it seems that she does indeed notice, but she forces herself to overlook them. That could be a strong point in the story if presented well in the future.

Overall, this one needs major work. They keep having Santino feud against the weakest of Raw's roster, and he still isn't looking impressive against them. I'm convinced that if they gave the guy some real momentum with strong victories over a few better-established wrestlers, Santino could become one of Raw's most important heel personalities. Hopefully his rub from working with Steve Austin will help to catapult his career. Those two could have some great verbal interactions.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4 [down 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Santino Marella: Umaga
Val Venis: n/a

FEUD CONCLUSIONS

(1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch?

POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) Santino Marella vs. Steve Austin?
(2) Snitsky vs. ??
(3) Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. The Highlanders?

Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I appreciate all the feedback I receive. Please insert a word in the subject line that deals with a wrestling topic or write something such as "WWE," "feud," or "Charlie Hass" so that I know it's not junk mail.

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