WWE RAW Talkback with official preview (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

With SLIPKNOT gone from Toon Zone this week he entrusted me (your friendly neighborhood mod (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35868) ;) ) to make sure the WWE talkbacks got up. So here you are World Wrestling Entertainment fans! And it comes complete with the official preview from the Raw site (http://raw.wwe.com/).


After almost a year absense, "The Rabid Wolverine" Chris Benoit returned to a loud ovation of cheers in front of his hometown crowd in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, last Monday night. But, by the end of the broadcast, Benoit's fan reaction had quickly turned to a chorus of boos. Benoit, with the help of Eddie Guerrero, Arn Anderson and Flair, turned his back on Stone Cold Steve Austin and beat the Rattlesnake down in the middle of the ring at the close of the show. How will Stone Cold react tonight in his home state of Texas? What will Flair have to say about the matter? Will Benoit -- a drafted SmackDown! talent -- even be in Dallas? Tune in tonight!
WWE.com has found out that Kevin Nash has a major announcement planned for tonight's shows. What will the leader of the nWo have to say tonight in Dallas?

Also, King of the Ring qualifying matches kick off tonight. X-Pac faces Goldust, and Booker T goes one-on-one against William Regal in first round action.

Trish Stratus puts her Women's Championship on the line against Terri in a Lingerie Match.

And Tommy Dreamer will try to gain some revenge against Undertaker when he battles the Dead Man in Dallas.

Check back later this afternoon for announced matches for tonight's broadcast!

You can't miss RAW, tonight at 9/8 CT on TNN, live from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas!

[Sugar Daddy]

The whole Benoit was on Raw but he is SmackDown talent was barely dealt with on SmackDown, to my knowledge, now that doesn't make sense to me.

The NWO better be good, because they are boring me.

It'd be kinda cool if the WWE reformed the Four Horsemen..although, knowing the recent booking, they'd screw it up.

Among many many shakeups the WWE needs, one of them is Justin Credible. I say, he should go back to the jean shorts, more cocky attitude of his ECW days, and reteam with Lance Storm, and reform the Impact Players. Now, I'm pretty sure they are on different shows, but still..it'd be cool. Granted, it wouldn't be a Vince McMahon creation, but it would be cool.

[Majin_Megabyte]

HBK aka Shawn Michaels is back tonight :)

[Sugar Daddy]

Yaaaaaaay..HBK is back!!!!!!!!

I was talking with Penguin about this..yay!

[JohnStewart-GL]

This was a great raw!
The divas match was cool. See Trish take off the underware and reveal a thong was great. :D
HBK is back!!!I was tottally surprised by this one.Now the NWO will rule.And the main event wasnt to shabby.
It was good to see Tommy Dreamer take on Taker. even though he got his tail end hainded to him.And i laughed when Jeff Hardy baseball-slid him him into the vomit.

[Andy Mancini]

Yes, Raw really did kick ass tonight. The promos were great (except for the Tommy Dreamer thing and the "pee on Double A" thing), the wrestling great (except for the chick match). I don't know what surprised me more: the fact that Booker T got a pop from the crowd, or the fact the the WWE let Goldust use his real southern accent?

[JohnStewart-GL]

Originally posted by dj_gir
Yes, Raw really did kick ass tonight. The promos were great (except for the Tommy Dreamer thing and the "pee on Double A" thing), the wrestling great (except for the chick match). I don't know what surprised me more: the fact that Booker T got a pop from the crowd, or the fact the the WWE let Goldust use his real southern accent?
Terri's wrestling skill sucked didnt they?And im so happy Booker gotta pop. ya gotta luv the Booker man. And i havent hear Goldust southern accent since his WCW days.

[JTurner954]

Nice to see HBK back (although he kind of hinted it on Confidential). It's like 1995 all over again. Two Dudes with Attitudes are back.

Good episode of Raw. No complaints really.

Oh, did anyone else that when they did a closeup on the IC title, the WWF logo was still on there??

[Memphis Bleek]

HBK is back! Even though HBK won't be wrestling it is still nice to see him back in WWF. HBK is my favorite WWF Superstar of all time. Booker T is hilarious. I glad Booker is getting the push he deserves. Austin supposely urinating on AA was funny. The WWF must really be worry about ratings because they are pulling out all the stops. Goldust impersonating the Coach was a gut buster. Booker T and the Big show could even look at Goldust during the skit. Tommy Dreamer's gimmick is getting old and disgusting. You can never go wrong with a Women's lingerie match.

[Sheamon]

Nothing overly special; an overall average night for RAW.

The Good:
-Shawn Michaels returning
-From what I've heard, Ric Flair needs to be Austin's personal assistant now :p
-King of the Ring tournament started. I always enjoy that.
-Yes, Trish has a very nice ass :D
-Golddust is as hilarious as ever. That 'mating call' line from JR was hilarious :p
-For once they didn't exchange the Hardcore Title 5 or 6 times
-That 'plastic surgery' sign during the lingerie match

The Bad:
-The least they could have done was make that fake urine look somewhat realistic.
-Tommy Dreamer eating his own vomit made me wanna vomit. Fire this guy as quickly as possible.
-Whats the point of a draft if Benoit breaks it every week!?
-The woman's division is a joke, plain and simple. It caters to the lowest common denominator with these stupid lingerie matches and such. Maybe it'd be different if they could find some women who aren't composed of more than 50% artificial materials.

That is all.

[The Penguin]

I'm starting to think Eddie is trying to make himself difficult to understand, essa.

I think Austin, shall we say "relieving" himself on AA was a bit much.
What?
Ok, we're not starting this again! :rolleyes: ;)

Justin Credible on RAW!! Justin Credible on RAW!!

The Kane mask is really starting to get old. I realize the WWE doesn't want us to forget about Kane while he is out with his injury, but I'm just sick X-Pac wearing that dang mask!

Just when I think Goldust can't get any worse, he shows up in a fake goatee. :rolleyes:

:eek: That was the most disgusting Bronco Buster I have ever seen.

You really can't go wrong with a 'gimmick' Women’s Title Match. :D

Brock Lesnar with the intimidating "shoulder roll" :rolleyes:

The look on Regal's face as Booker walked away was priceless—sucka!

If there's one thing I hate it's fake vomit. We really didn't need that. Poor Wakko didn't like it either. :wakko:

I hope Jeff Hardy lived for that moment, because he doesn't have too many left.

Nash's big announcement was both awesome and a let down. It’s great to see Shawn Michaels back and I couldn't be happier about that, but at the same time I didn't feel it was presented very well. HBK just came out, no promo, nothing. I think it would have worked better if he helped the nWo win a big match or something. Can't you just imagine JR- "Ohmygod it's Shawn Michaels! Michaels just helped the nWo win the match!" That would leave a lot of questions going into next week instead of "Oh I guess Shawn isn't gonna talk tonight." :(

Austin wins again! This whole personal assistant thing could be interesting. Hmmm.

[Robin2099]

I thought Raw was overall good tonight. The tag match was great. And even though Flair is a shell of his former self, when put with someone who can carry him, he can still deliver. HBK'S return was great. But did we really need to see Tommy drink his vomit, and that fake peeing of Double A?

[czyznyck99]

I'm glad I missed RAW. From what I've seen and read, it looked like a proverbial "desperation move" resulted in a decent episode.
Next week I'll find out if it was worth missing. Did I miss a gem, or was this the start of something better?

I had always suspected HBK would return sooner than later, however I now question the Confidential interviews. Were they just lead-ins to this??? Oh, I hope not...

I do regret not seeing Trish and Terri and Molly, as all three have extraodinary bodies (and even better 'ass'ets). I hope they replay some of the footage on the Bottom Line, but I doubt they will.

Austin's win was predictable, when is he going to get in McMahon's face and face Benoit already?

I do not like school. I will miss my third Smackdown in a row Thursday. This is the second episode in a row of RAW I missed.

Finals suck.

Later.

[Kathy Kane]

Yes! I also think that the Kane's mask being worn by X-pac sucks, when Kane returns I hope starts a feud with Pac.

I think that Jeff Hardy starting something with Undertaker, could be good, not bad. He maybe small but the kid could probably take out the Undertaker. Speaking of which did anyone see that Undertaker sign that he ripped during the match? It said " Is the Undertaker Pregnant?"

I really don't recall seeing HBK wreslte, so I'd like to see that soon on RAW. Also it sucked that HBK didn't get on the Mic.

[The Game]

HBK! HBK! HBK!

The Heartbreak Kid is back! Yeah! :D :D :D It was a total shock to me- why, I don't know, but I just wasn't expecting it to be Michaels. It was funny to see HBK and Kevin "Diesel" Nash in the ring together again after all of these years.

Honestly though, the show wasn't great. The whole peeing thing and the whole vomit thing was sickening- they're literally scaring their fans away with gross acts. The only great match was the last one, where I really liked the psychology and ring work.

Oh well. I always like the shock value of plot twists.

-The Game

[TheScarecrow]

Note: I posted this on another message board, and since I don't feel like retyping it here, I just cut and pasted it with some new added thoughts and PG editing of the cuss words. Enjoy! :D

I guess most of you enjoyed RAW. I wish I could say the same, but the truth is I thought it kind of sucked.

It's funny that JR admitted in the Ross Report last week or so that WWE knew that it need to "create new rivalries" and "elevate new stars" and assured us that things would get better, and yet what did WWE do this week on RAW?

They hyped a major announcement from has-been Kevin Nash; the worst drawing World Heavyweight Champion in the modern era (in both WCW and WWF/WWE), about a group that's value to the wrestling world is long dead (and has become a self-parody). Now what was that announcement?

The 100,00000th return of HBK, who chances are will probably disappear again in a few months anyway, and will probably do disappointing ratings once people notice he can't wrestle anymore and that his act is stale just like Nash and the rest of the nWo/DX/Klique concept.

They also put Flair/Austin in the main event featuring a storyline that has been done to death by both the WWF/WWE and WCW for the past three years (heel company owner vs. loner babyface); in a "straight wrestling match" gimmick match that was centered on the running gag of Austin not being allowed to punch Flair. :rolleyes:

The ending was Austin going over after thwarting off the outside interference of Eddy's Frogsplash (way to get that finisher over on the main event level there, guys :rolleyes: ).

The payoff to all this is that Flair is now going to do Austin's bidding in some of the new head RAW writer Brian Gerwitz infamous comedy skits that he's known for, which will kill off some more of the drawing power of both Austin and Flair (look at how many times Flair has been humiliated in silly skits over the years in WCW, and the bad business that followed to see my point).

How does any of the above "create new rivalries" or "elevate new stars"? I sure don't see that being the case (if Eddy's interference resulted in Flair winning, it would be different, but instead Austin shrugged it off and won anyway).

It's still Vince going back to the same old stuff in the face of business and ratings going down, and all it does is cause things to get worse and worse as the years go by.

Its not that these angles were bad necessarily, as Flair is still great as a heel, and Austin looked and sounded more motivated in the badass rebel role this week then he has for a while, and HBK's return did shock me, but I just don't give a crap anymore.

I don't want to see Kevin Nash on my television anymore period, and unless HBK can locate one of Batman villain Ra's Al Ghul's Lazarus Pits and restore that broken back and get back to his 1997 form again, I don't want to see him on my television anymore either.

And while I may still like seeing Austin and Flair on my television, I don't want them feuding against each other anymore in the "boss vs. employee" storyline, especially in this bastardized state. The stuff that made the first Austin/McMahon feud so successful just isn't there in this latest installment (things like the characters involved being new and fresh, and the core that was the WWF Championship which kept it glued together and drew PPV and houseshow money).

The rest of the show was hit and miss. The Bubba/RVD vs. Eddy/Brock match was well booked and well executed, and putting Bradshaw in the hardcore division is the best possible use that you can get out of him right now, but the Tommy Dreamer puking angle and the Trish/Terri match were absolute waste of TV time.

Yeah, yeah, I know Trish has a nice butt, a nice set of boobs, and is generally one hot Canadian babe. But it's simply not enough for me anymore like it was in 1999, or even 2000. I want to be able to care about Trish and Molly as characters, and I CAN'T due to the material these ladies currently have to work with.

Trish has improved as a wrestler, and Molly has been great for a long time dating back to her stint as Mona in WCW. A feud between them would be much better if deeper and more serious storytelling was involved, but instead Vince keeps going back to the T&A stipulation matches and angles to set up feuds over the Women's Title that don't do anything but get a cheap pop and hinder any chance these poor ladies have of actually getting the crowd to give a crap about them.

Why do you think the whole Tanjiri/Kidman/Torrie Wilson storyline on Smackdown over the Cruiserweight Title didn't generate much of a reaction? It was because it was just set up so Torrie could take off the robe that she was forced to wear and show off her hot body to get a cheap crowd pop, and none of the characters involved are any more over then before the storyline, and it didn't exactly make for compelling viewing.

In fact, a lot of the T&A stuff is insulting to my intelligence, and comes off as desperate pandering most of the time. I can see that Trish, Torrie, Stacy, etc are all hot. I don't need storylines built on pounding it into my head like a sledgehammer. Give me a reason to care about THEM, not just their bodies.

As for Dreamer, well if Haymen and WWE really want Tommy to get over, then they should've just kept him doing what he was doing on Heat, which was wrestling decent matches and playing a good babyface to get the crowd into things. Just because he does gross stuff backstage doesn't mean its going to translate into it getting over in front of the crowd as a wrestling gimmick, just like Shane Helms' real life love of comic books didn't translate into The Hurricane becoming a breakout star, and Bob Holly's hobby of racing cars didn't translate into success for the Spark Plug character in the early 90's.

Simply put...

The New World Order is dead.

The Evil Boss vs. Rebel Hero has been driven into the ground so many times that its pretty much as dead as the nWo was in 1999.

Flair as a top money-drawing heel is dead.

And whether people want to come to grips with it or not, a lot of the "Attitude" type things that were so the rage five years ago are dead as well.

These dead horses are rotting and getting smellier and smellier every week your company tries to ride them that extra mile to another payday, Vince. Start "getting it" again before it gets as bad as it was in 1996, or close to it.

And for the love of god, get Brian Gerwitz "the F out" of the head writer spot for RAW. His comedy stuff might have a place in the fed overall if used in the right places and with the right talent, but by no means should it dictate the direction of an entire brand.

Okay, so maybe RAW didn't so much suck as it just isn't going in the direction that it needs to go in. That direction is removing the stale stuff and make an honest effort to "create new rivalries" and "elevate new stars" like JR said they would.

But I guess I shouldn't hold my breath.

[Sheamon]

And despite all that, JR still calls every match, every champion, every RAW, and every wrestler the greatest in the history of the WWE/F. :rolleyes: