In what I hope is a good omen for the future, Evan Bourne got his best push yet on Monday's edition of Raw. The show started without any pyro intro, with a fight between Edge and Bourne. While the announcers explained that Bourne had challenged Edge for his spot in the Fatal Fourway match shortly before the show began, it looked like it was going to be the typical squash match, as Edge got in some quick offense. However, Bourne recovered, and managed to turn the table a bit before Edge moved out of the way of his finishers, the Shooting Star Press. Edge then cut a good promo on Seamus, Cena and Orton, before Orton came out and gave him an RKO.
I thought this would be the end of Bourne's involvement on the show, but shockingly, the WWE seemed to listen to fan response to the open and inserted him into the main event when Orton got hurt. Heck, he even managed to shine in the match, with some sick spots and the eventual pinful on Seamus. I've consistently advocated for Bourne - While he is a small guy, like Mysterio, his offensive arsenal looks really awesome and effective. I think he is a believable contender if booked properly, and frankly, the WWE is relying less on immovable monsters like Khali, Kane and the Undertaker anyway.
Outside of Bourne's participation in the main event, the best match was Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz, in a continuation of their feud started on NXT. The only downside of this match was that The Miz had to be involved. He is a heel on the rise, so while I'm glad to see Daniel Bryan got the pinfall with a surprise counter, I wish it could have come at the expense of someone besides The Miz. Also, the end of this match was a bit rough, as it seemed like the ref or someone else was out of position for the pinfall.
In other Raw business, the only other angle of interest involved an on-screen confrontation between general manager Bret Hart and company owner Vince McMahon. It was an odd promo - He cautioned Hart against relying too much on public opinion, cautioning him that as GM, he sometimes had to do things that the people wouldn't like. The promo had an ominous feel to it, which I liked.
Speaking of the promo, it was the setup for a viewer's choice three-hour Raw next week, where voters can chose all the matches and stipulations. Checking it out on www.com, you can't vote until next Monday - I'm guessing this is to prevent coordinated bot attacks on the voting, like when some Stern listeners tried to get Val Venis a title match a couple years ago. I like the idea on paper, but like Cyber Sunday, the WWE could make things lame by making most of the potential match-ups lame.
Grade for Raw: B+
I was pretty happy with RAW, theme of the show seemed to be to establish new stars and they accomplished that in spades with R-Truth, Daniel Bryan, Evan Bourne and that new tag team I did not quite get the name of. Though their segment was more of an introduction then a star builder segment.
ReplyDeleteI didn't catch the name of the new tag team either, but hopefully the WWE is at least trying to do something with the division. Maybe they'll include a four-way (i.e. all four men in at the same time) tag match for the belts at the PPV? That could be fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm still not completely sold on R-Truth. I wish he varied his entrance music / rap from time to time, even though I realize it makes a good portion of the fans pop.
I'm also wondering if they're going to re-package or turn Jericho, since he appeared distraught following his loss on Monday. He's so great as a heel, but I love him as a face too. Raw could absorb his switch pretty easily - Edge and Seamus are pretty solidly entrenched as the top two heels, with the Miz on the cusp of their status, and Triple H always willing to do a turn as well.