"WWE RAW" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

My thanks to Kippy for handling this weekend's WWE events being willing to handle RAW, but since I made it back earlier than I thought here I am.

I also want to say that I hate being behind on RAW episodes. One thing has led to another and this will be the third week I'm taping. I hope to rejoin you all soon, but it's at least six hours of RAW away plus HEAT. I do know that Batista is going to have to pick a Championship as we move towards WrestleMania 21...


http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/raw/images/20050218_batista_ton.jpg
Decision Time!
Feb. 21, 2005

Batista's road to WrestleMania 21 will come to a fork on Monday Night RAW when he finally decides which championship he will compete for. Will it be RAW's World Heavyweight Championship, or will Batista jump to SmackDown! and take on the WWE Champion at WrestleMania.

Before RAW, Batista will be at the SmackDown! No Way Out pay-per-view. What impact will the events that occur have on his ultimate decision? Also, we learned on SmackDown! that General Manager Theodore Long will crash RAW on Monday to try to sign Evolution’s animal to his roster. How will RAW GM Eric Bischoff respond to his counterpart's overtures?

Also on RAW, the long-awaited unveiling of "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters will happen. Will Masters prove his greatness? Is he as good as his recent vignettes on RAW have suggested?

Watch RAW on Spike TV (9/8 CT) to find out.

[zmanjz]

well....

I like Molly's current hairstyle.

But that's about all I can say for the first match.

(Well... that and Victoria's "Widow's peak" looks like it should bust the kneecaps off of whoever it's used on)

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Simon Dean is a train wreck. If he were one of AL Snow's trainees, he'd be getting reamed for messing up every other move against Jericho... I don't think that Simon could sell free gold, let alone himself.

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Hmmm. Kane was more into it than usual for a nonppv match. (The PSU Crowd was suprisingly behind him)

Not a bad match.

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Benoit came out to shut Hassan up, and got stomped... that was kinda "meh".

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Edge and Christian back together.... I wonder if they'll bring back the Con"Chair"to

I liked how HBK avoided the Conchairto and played some sweet chin music for Christian.

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Steven Richards? I didn't even realise that he was still with WWE. Is he the best they've got for the debut match for Chris Masters? well that lasted all of a minute or two.

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Batista's contracts.... any chance he can sign them both?

Meh, he signed Raw... no suprise there. (not a big suprise when UPN's killing the show off as soon as they get the chance.)

overall... I think I missed out on two hours of time that could have been better spent organizing my hard drive.

[VCXZX]

I guess at Mania, Christy Hemme will become Women's Champ. And from what I saw in that skirmish, it's not going to be pretty.

Tyson Tomko's no Luther Reigns when it comes to the mic.

Orton/Michaels-Edge/Christian match was good. Good to see no dissension between Edge and Christian, and the almost return of the Con-Chairto. I liked Edge's assault on Michaels. Edge's intensity was off the wall here. And, plus we get Michaels-Angle at Mania. Can't complain about that.

Chris Masters stunk in his debut. I don't see have any success on RAW. It was good to see Steven Richards on RAW again.

And finally we learn HHH was behind the matter of the tapes, and the limos. Good camera work here as it panned to Batista waiting outside with a grin on his face. Amazing.

And finally Batista made the right decision and stayed on RAW in one of the best segments in a while as he did the thumbs-down to HHH/Flair (just like HHH did to Orton) and attacked. I liked the Batista-bomb on HHH on the announcers table.

Pretty good RAW.

[Patrick Bateman]

Where they failed with Orton, they're definately succeeding with Batista. He's gone from a big oaf losing to everyone to this unstoppable monster. He's fast becoming my favorite on RAW.

[Kasumi]

The tag team match was great. That was my first time seeing the ConChairto. Never seen any of E&C's antics since I never watched in 2000-2002.

Other matches were meh. Chris Masters looks a lot older than 22. Sheesh. He looks older than Randy so how can he be 22?

And yay for Batista! He's not an idiot now is he HHH?! And the Batista thumbs up/down is always welcome. And having him powerbomb HHH through the table was awesome. Hopefully they don't screw this up like they did with Randy. I hope it goes over really well.

[Sigma]

Simon Dean is a train wreck. If he were one of AL Snow's trainees, he'd be getting reamed for messing up every other move against Jericho... I don't think that Simon could sell free gold, let alone himself. You do realize that Simon Dean is not supposed to look good against a guy like Jericho. Don't let the gimmick fool you the man is a great talent if you can dig up any of his older ECW and indie matches as Nova you will see what I mean.

[Djm912]

Always great to see Molly.

And WWE has played out the Batista/HHH storyline PERFECTLY. I cannot believe I am saying that, but they really are.

[Spike Mcdougal]

I want to state once again that no matter how hot her stripping on the stage may be I miss Victoria's old gimmick. Molly looks alot better now and dont you just want to slap Trish? Just a little?

I have no qualms with Christy becoming the Women's Champion if it comes to that, it's not like things are getting any better

Never been a fan of Steven Richards but that was super weak to see him lose to another Narcisist retread

Batista should have done the Spinebuster instead of the Batista bomb, that's my only gripe

[Robin2099]

So out of all the ways that they could of revealed it was Hunter who was playing the tapes, they have him say it out loud in Evolution's locker room? That was one of the dumbest reveals in wrestling history, and made the so called "cerebral assasin" look like a moron. Granted, the contract signing went off well, and assuming Batista wins the title at Mania(if he doesn't then he'll be dead in the water) he could easily become the WWE's answer to Golderg, but with how stupid WWE can be, I'm not holding my breath that they will handle it well.
-Oh joy, Christy Hemme will become the women's champion. Since they only have three women on the roster who can actually wrestle, I wonder how long that title will be around.
-Michaels/Angle at Wrestlemania has the potential to be one of hte best matches of the year if not ever. Hopefully they'll give them a good 20-30 minutes at Mania.
-I give Chris Master a couple of months until he's released. Course this is WWE and since he's big and untalented he'll probabbly get a shot at the World title and feud with Batista.
-Least the Orton concussion angle is over, and it's always great to see Vitamin E & C together. And man is WWe missing the boat with Christian. Overall thumbs in the middle for Raw, nothing awful but nothing great either.

[email2003]

So for now, WrestleMania 21 looks like this:

World Heavyweight Championship Match:
Triple H VS. Batista

WWE Championship Match:
JBL VS. John Cena

Shawn Michales VS. Kurt Angle

Possible Matches for Mania 21:

Eddie Guerrueo VS. Rey Mysterio?
Randy Orton VS. Undertaker?

RAW was alright. At least its better than SmackDown!

[Andy Mancini]

And WWE has played out the Batista/HHH storyline PERFECTLY. I cannot believe I am saying that, but they really are.
I agree. Tonight was the first time since before the invasion that WWF/E programming actually had me on the edge of my seat. It's this kind of thing that the WWE used to do well. Hopefully, this angle tells them that they can still pull off a great story every now and then. I just hope that they don't botch this up with "Big Dave" losing to Triple H at Wrestlemania. Hey, Trips did the job a bunch of times last year (Benoit, Eugene, Shelton Benjamin). One more time won't kill him... right?

[PaQ]

I liked how the Batista angle went, with him dropping the Raw clipboard, the crowd totally went silent and started to boo as Evolution celebrated.. That was a great way to increase the turn.. and man, Evolution sure likes using the thumbs up/thumbs down technique, HHH did it to Orton and now Batista is returning the favor. It would've been something though if Batista did go to Smackdown.. haha it would have been the ultimate twist.

That's all i really saw, was too busy to watch any other part of RAW.. Great way to end the show though, that's for sure.

[Red]

4 Stars, But mainly because of this...

http://img17.exs.cx/img17/9101/batistaturn1nq.gif

[Jade_GL]

A few random thoughts -

I am so bored with the women in the WWE now. Victoria, Molly, and Trish are the only ones that can really wrestle, and now it looks like Hemme is going to get the title. Yippee, a spaz with the belt, just what I want to see weekly on RAW... Sorry, the Diva search women just are a bust all around for me. I wish they had kept some real talent, instead of getting new *talent* which consists of mainly just boobs... Both types.

Masters debut was eh. Then again, I actually like Stevie Night Heat. :) He was pretty great at a house show that I saw when he and Victoria were still a pair. Besides, it was the standard job match to get the people interested in the new guy, and I think it fell pretty flat. The crowd seemed dead during it.

Liked the Christian/Edge vs. Orton/HBK match. Wanted to see the Concerto *Conchairto* sooooooooo bad when I saw them setting up for it. All in all, it was probably the most interesting match of the night.

Hmmmm.

Ah, Batista turning on Evolution was tight. I loved the thumbs up ---> thumbs down moment, and seeing H get put through the table was sweeeeeet. This was the big moment of the night, and I think they pulled it off nicely. However, H going over the plan to Flair was just so obvious. I knew Batista was either outside a door or hiding behind a plant or something. Just so obvious. But the pay off was well worth that little quibble. :D

[Tapout]

The first bad WM21 promo. Booker did a great job, but it wasn't true enough to the movie. Or maybe I just wanted to hear him ask "Does he look like a *****? Then why'd you try to F him like a *****?" :p

Vastly uninspired debut by Chris Masters, even if he does look like the lovechild of Randy Orton and Batista. I wish we could go back to around 2000 when Vince McMahon had a moment of clarity and wasn't using talentless, roided-up monsters to drive the company like he was in the 80's. (Sorry Dave :) )

Do the Women's title a favor and take it in the backyard and put a burning slug into it. Three semi-legitimate female wrestlers and some useless eye-candy do not make good TV.

The ending was done very well. I though either signing would be too obvious and he'd somehow sign both, but I was more than satisfied with the way it turned out.

[Kippy]

RAW was good this week. There was a great tag team match and a highly entertaining main event contract signing. Outside of the debut of the newest wrestler, nothing on the show was particularly bad. It looks like RAW is hitting its stride at just the right time.

The triple threat match between Trish, Molly, and Victoria was a good way to start the show. It's nice to finally see the women wrestle again. I don't know what they're thinking with this developing feud between Trish and Christy. I love hearing J.R. talking about how Trish is jealous. I'm sure that Playboy wouldn't love to have Trish pose in their magazine.

Jericho and Dean put on an okay match. At this point I can't believe that Dean is still on RAW. He has no direction and the crowd seems pretty indifferent to him.

I thought Kane versus Tomko was a good big man match. I'm really not sure why, but I enjoyed it more than any of the Snitsky matches. Tomko's little promo before the match wasn't great, but maybe he can improve if he gets more opportunities like that.

The tag team match between Michaels & Orton and Edge & Christian was by far the best match of the night. All four men put on a great performance. Michaels has now challenged Angle for a match at WrestleMania, but I wonder what the other three will be doing at the big show.

The debut of Masters was laughably awful. The crowd was just completely silent throughout this entire segment. I'd like to know why they had Richards in this match. Wouldn't The Hurricane have been a better choice to get over the new big heel?

Snitsky versus Benjamin was a decent match with a great ending. Benjamin got a big pop when he posed over Snitsky with the chair. I didn't like the idea of a feud between these two at first, but it looks like it could really help the Intercontinental Champion get over with the fans.

The main event segment was great. It was completely predictable, but in this situation that wasn't a bad thing. This is easily the best storyline on either show and I can't wait to see how they're going to build up the feud between Batista and Triple H in the upcoming weeks.