WWE Monday Night RAW talkback with preview (spoilers)

[BLACKHEART]

After plowing through four rounds of competition, "The Next Big Thing" Brock Lesnar became the 2002 King of the Ring after defeating Rob Van Dam on Pay-Per-View! On RAW, the new king will begin his reign as he makes his first appearance on WWE television since obtaining the crown.

Also, The Undertaker retained his WWE Undisputed Championship after narrowly defeating Triple H on Sunday night. Afterwards, The Rock, Triple H and Taker all went at each other in the ring. Who will Taker set his sights on next? Will The Great One be his No. 1 target?

The fallout from King of the Ring will also be sure to continue on RAW. What will Trish Stratus have to say about losing his Women's Championship match to Molly? What words will Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit have for Bubba Ray Dudley after Bubba helped Ric Flair defeat Latino Heat?

You can't miss RAW, Monday at 9/8 CT on TNN, live from the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio!

[Dark Spider]

The starting promo was pretty cool. I miss those types of promos when the whole locker room is out in the ring. Vince was pretty powerful in the ring and I like how he singled out some people in his attempts to get over on the superstars (RVD, Brock, Buh Buh). I also liked how Booker T "stole" the show and challenged the nWo....it kinda establishes him as a main eventer in my opinion.

Also I think Vince is listening to the fans more. The whole point of that promo was to recruit new stars and to get rid of the crappy ones. He says he is going to get rid of one crappy star each week and he is going to start with either Tommy Dreamer or Raven (They have a match tonight). I personally don't think either of them are crappy, I just think that they are underused in terms of storylines. Its the WWE's own fault for not using them to their full potential. There's a reason why they were the stars of ECW...because they had talent. Oh well...

[Chris Sanders MSX]

Raven's out. He used to be one of my favorite wrestlers. What WWE did to him is horrible, I think it would have been much easier to just give Raven back his old persona than Tommy Dreamer. I hope he makes his way back, popping into the crowds, reading poetry, kicking some random ass (Matt Hardy) and cool stuff like that. I'm thinking that this was just the start for Raven and Matt.


Is it just me, or is the combination of Booker and Goldust just the greatest thing the WWE have done in a while ? I love it when they are on screen with each other, I always get a good laugh... "Sucka!"

So far Raw has been pretty good, unfortunetly I'm cutting out at 9:30 so I can watch that Sorority Show on MTV. I dunno what's wrong with me, anything about college life has my money.

[Dark Spider]

Yea, Goldust and Booker T are awsome togehter, I personally don't want that duo to split up.

The backstage segment they did together earlier tonight was pretty good. Goldust as the nWo hunter was cool.

Goldust: ....And here we have what is known as the Greasy Rat (X-Pac).

That was just hilarious. Then when X-Pac followed Goldust into the corridor....WHAM with that metal plate by Booker T. The perfect end to the best segement of the night.

Is it just me, or does Goldust/Booker T remind you of the Rock and Sock Connection from a few years ago. Just picture the Rock as Booker T and Mankind as Goldust and I swear it is an exact match.

[Chris Sanders MSX]

Yeah they do, it's just these guys are funnier.



That was just hilarious. Then when X-Pac followed Goldust into the corridor....WHAM with that metal plate by Booker T. The perfect end to the best segement of the night.

You forgot the end part where Booker comes back, and says "Sucka!" That part had me rolling, because I wasn't expecting it. He just pops back on screen with his hand and head shaking... "SUCKA!"

I used to dislike Booker but since he's teamed with GD He's da man !

So what went down in the last 30 minutes of RAW ?

[VashTheStampede]

I was on the edge of my seat during the RVD match, this could be a great fued.

[Chris Sanders MSX]

Of course it is, because it's not predictable. It can go either way as both men are equally talented. I love this fued, I'm also loving Taker and Jeff Hardy. I'm getting a kick out of nwo vs Booker and Gold Dust.


WWE is finally doing something right. The fueds just keep getting better, I want to be a writer for the WWE with my experience in E-Wrestling I guarentee the fans would never be bored.

[Sheamon]

A pretty good RAW tonight. Nothing overly spectacular, something that made me say "Wow", but unlike so many of the recent RAWs, it did lack any big flaws. Here's my weekly random musings...

Vince's start of the show was alright. But the end ended up being little more than heat to hype up the later NWO vs. Booker & Golddust match. Oh well. Golddust's 'marriage' line made up for any shortcomings with it. :p The WWE definately needs some new talent to climb the ranks now...

What I really liked tonight was the match between Raven and Tommy Dreamer. Both utter garbage on the WWE roster that needs to be gotten rid of. One thing really nice about the match was that it wasn't predictable at all. Both guys had everything on the line for the match and either one could have lost without anyone being surprised or expecting it. And now Raven's gone. Good riddance. The WWE can make things even better by getting rid of Dreamer despite his victory, then the Hurrican and Terrie as well.

Nothing special about the Bradshaw/Spike/etc... match, or the Guerrero/Bubba Ray match. Having no storylines whatsoever for these characters sure makes them boring.

I hope they give Linda some push. We all know the WWE won't use her as eye candy since as the WWE has taught us over the years, only women with blond hair and plastic body parts are attractive. It looks like they're gonna use her, so may as well establish her as a good wrestler and don't have her jobbing to Molly Holly -_- As we all know, the women's division could surely use more able wrestlers, especially since Jazz is out and they've chosen to completely ignore Jackie. The other Tough Enough winner will obviously follow the cliche, they've already got her doing that lame 'seduce Vince' crap that has been done to death.

The Golddust/Booker T vs. NWO match turned out pretty good. Golddust and Booker T sure make a good team, atleast IMHO :p The stuff in the NWO sure is getting old though. I agree with what was said about them earlier 100% and would say they're the best duo in the WWE right now.

Brock speaks! Finally! Since they're giving him so much push, they better have him establish himself as more of a speaker. Simply having Heyman rave about him will never put him over the top. Glad to see him not get the Intercontinental Title, they don't have to go sooo over the top with him, especially since he has so little experience.

Thats about it. I'll give it a B grade for the current era of RAW.

[JohnStewart-GL]

Great show.Im glad brock talked. if hes gonna get a push he should at least speak. the Divas tag match was great. it was competive. as for Jackie in lingere :eek: :D :D .
Rvd vs brock lessnar was a great main event. finally a good main event that i got into. the opener was nice. Vince was very assurtive.

[BLACKHEART]

Raven just can't wrestle on RAW. So...

He wrestled Matt Hardy on Heat.


Very lame angle.


There were some great matches tonight. Take away the woman's tag team match and Chris from Harvard and it was an awesome show. It will probably not do so well in the ratings. I am just glad that the opening promo didn't bring out Russo.

[JTurner954]

Before I comment on Raw, I'd just like to say how happy I am that RVD didn't win the KOTR. Go BROCK Go.

Anyway, good night for Raw. I figured that since Russo is back, Dreamer would beat Raven. The line of the night: Jerry Lawler about Spike "He's so small, he could wrestle embryos".

Goldust as The Crocodile Hunter was great (Even putting in "Danger, danger, danger" made it better).

That's about it. I'm happy to see Booker T getting a big reaction tonight. Hopefully, he will be main eventing soon.

[VashTheStampede]

Just remember Russo isn't back in a full capacity but more of an advisory role. I doubt you would see his influence that much.

[BLACKHEART]

What does Russo have against Raven?

This Raven angle is stupid. If he is only going to wrestle on Heat then I don't understand why they have to bury his character. He is a great talent. He went from being involved in the main event on RAW to playing on Heat? I am getting sick of the WWE doing an angle and killing it the next week or the week after that.

Remember the RVD/Undertaker fued that just stopped without a reason?

If it was going to be the last Raven vs. Dreamer match then I would have expected things to be a bit more intense.

I still think WWE is afraid to give any ECW guy a big push. They don't want to show that Raven can be a top star. They tried to keep RVD down but couldn't get the job done.

Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match. That's going to be a great one.

[Memphis Bleek]

Why is Vince mad at his wrestlers? It's not their faults that your daughter Stephanie is a medicore writer and match maker and you Vince don't have the guts to fire her because she is your daughter. Stephanie subpar storylines are killing the WWF. It was a typical Vince rant. I'm glad Raven isn't going to wrestling on RAW any time soon. What is the WWF doing to Eddie? First, the WWF makes him lose to Flair and now he got clown by Bubba Ray. I'm start to like Eddie's heel character, but Eddie will never get over unless he wins a match.

I guess Flair doesn't have another run in him. Flair was hurting so bad that he didn't even he show up on RAW. I hope Jacke Gayda never wears a swimsuit again. Jacke Gayda isn't hot. The Women's Tag Team match was excellent except for Jacke Gayda. The Women's Tag Team match was to me the second best match of the night. Jacke Gayda need to go back to minor to get more training and Linda need to go back to minor to learn more moves.

I like Trish and Molly feud but I'm getting tired of it. I hope Molly doesn't just wrestle Trish for the next two months. Molly could start a feud with Ivory or Jacqueline. Ivory and Jacqueline deserve tv time. The WWF can always use Trish as eye candy and imagine this Trish could wrestle other female wrestler like Jacqueline.

The Goldust/nWo segment was good. My problem with the nWo is that the only people who wrestle for the group are X-pac and Big Show. Show and X-pac are low to mid card. Hopefully when Nash get back to full strength the nWo will have a legit Undisputed title contender. Booker T is finallly getting a chance to shine.

Booker T sucka chant is funny. Chris Nowinski has potenial but he is no where near where Maven was before Maven got injury. RVD v Lesnar was good because it was unpredictable. Lesnar finally talked.

RAW was boring until Goldust/nWo, Women's Tag Team, and RVD v Lesnar. I wish that the writers would try to make the whole show good instead of just having a great main event.

[TheScarecrow]

The main event was great thanks to RVD and the booking, but Brock clearly isn't ready for the main event push he is getting at all. They should've had Booker advance by DQ last week against Brock thanks to HBK and friends (so Brock doesn't lose that undefeated steak) and had Booker lose a close one to RVD in the final to win the crown. A good RVD/Rock title vs. title match at Summerslam with a good story behind it would draw more money then a Brock/Rock match ever could. I applaud WWE for trying to make new stars, but Brock just isn't ready at this point in his career.

As for Vince, well I am not sure what the hell that opening promo was about. Personally I wish Vince would take his TV character and "get the F out" as far as WWE storylines are concerned because as I've said many times before; the evil owner vs. top babyface angle is dead, and Vince being the on-air character of both the Smackdown and RAW brands does a good job of making the split worthless. Also, sending Raven to Heat is silly given that RAW's roster is pretty thin and can use all the talent it can get, and Raven hasn't done anything wrong to be demoted to my knowledge. If Vince would get his little girl and her hack writing team to put out better storylines, then the talent would come across much better, so it's not like it's their fault.

Booker T and his new catchphrase ("can you dig that..." fallowed by a delayed "SUCKAAAAAA!!!!") are just gold. Goldust has also found a way to breathe new life into his character with his team with Booker and his funny impersonations. This duo is exactly like the Rock & Sock Connection (I just hope Goldust won't give Booker a "this is your life" party). The nWo can just put this new duo over while HBK and Nash can pretend they still mean something besides a nostalgic pop in this day and age.

I know the Molly/Trish feud has gone on for a while, but with Jazz and Lita out, it is really the only marketable feud the women's division has, so it's going to continue like it or not. What they need to do is have Molly do something major heelish to Trish, like throw her through a class window or something. Then she should do mean-spirited emotional hateful rants against WWE fans for their "puppies chants" during her matches and the "big ass" signs and on the way WWE promotes "Divas" in general (rather then always saying "pure and wholesome" over and over again), kind of like the Mick Foley anti-hardcore angle in ECW. Fans will then be itching for Trish to get the belt back. Do that and Molly/Trish has more life added to it.

As for the women's match, well I liked the finish and the work was fine. Jacky from Tough Enough needs a lot more work though, and so does Linda Miles.

Taker squashes Jeff Hardy again? :yawn: I hope Jeff at lest gets some more offence during that ladder match next week, in between bumping for Taker like a freak of course.

That Eddy G/Bubba feud seems like it was booked on a napkin. Let's see, Austin walks out and ruins his feud with Eddy so he has no one to feud with, and Bubba is basically directionless, so let's put them in a feud with each other. The only reason Bubba interfered in that EddyG/Flair KOTR match because he wanted to make an impact? Right. :rolleyes:

Chris Nowinski may have potential, but a drawn out feud with Bradshaw won't do much to help him realize it. I thought Bradshaw was in the hardcore division anyway, why is he wrestling straight matches again? :confused:

[VashTheStampede]

Am I the only one that enjoys watching Jeff Hardy get squashed? Well I guess so.

[BLACKHEART]

No I enjoy Jeff Hardy getting beat up. I enjoy watching him hurt. I enjoy watching the pain in his face. I just know he'll get the world title next week and I'll actually hate WWE.

[VashTheStampede]

Well we'll see, Im just positive he will not win. Call it the optimist in me but I dont believe he will win.

[The Clown Prince]

I've been wondering about Vince's comment to Nash on the begining promo. Something along the lines of "and Nash, either you perform too, or you'll be joining your buddy Scott Hall in the unemployment line." Followed by a middle finger scratch on Nash's part. I thought that was pretty damn low considering Nash and Hall are good friends in real life, and then to have Vince bring that up on air was just not in good taste.

So I don't know if that was planned or not, but it was not good.

The Clown Prince

[The Penguin]

Well it took me a while, but time goes to fast when you’re playing GameCube. :) Anyway I thought the show was pretty good, but I did just barely notice the “Stone Cold” hole this week.

No matter what you think of Vince McMahon I don’t think anyone can deny he cuts a heck of a promo.

When Vince was hyping someone as having “ruthless aggression” I was holding out hope for Boss Man (who was absent from ringside :( ), but no such luck.

Booker and Goldust are the best “odd couple” the WWE has ever had. :D

I think the nWo is really stepping it up with their activities this week.

Bradshaw still looks ridiculous.

I am certainly not a fan of Christopher Nowinski, but you just can’t buy the kind of heat that guy has.

:eek: Jackie. Wow. :p

Vince’s “interruptions” always make for entertaining television.

I still can barely understand half of what Eddie is saying, essa.” :rolleyes:

Too bad about Triple H, although a break from one of the major stars is always nice every once and a while—even if it is usually forced.

Goldust as the Crocodile Hunter was very entertaining (and it was also a good way for WWE to promote the upcoming movie—you know they must’ve gotten something for that). I laughed the whole way through. Big Show having a dream about cheeseburgers was great, all the up to Booker’s rhyming taught of a KOed X-Pac. :p

I can only assume Raven will show up on SmackDown! If he doesn’t I’ll be pretty unhappy, I always liked Raven and I’m hoping they start to significantly use him in the near future.

I always wanted any sort of a Hardyz split to be amicable and it looks like we are on our way to that. Jeff and Taker put on a pretty good match and I anxiously await Undertaker’s first WWE ladder match.

I don’t see why Heyman was upset RVD interrupted him and Brock—it’s not like they were doing anything. :rolleyes:

I still don’t like Linda Miles, but both she and Jackie Gayda looked pretty good in the ring this week.

:eek: The silent wonder speaks!! Brock Lesnar can talk!

I thought the main event was good and even better since Lesnar didn’t win the I-C gold. At this point he just doesn’t need it—or deserve it for that matter.

[Dark Spider]

I don't understand something though. Isn't Harvard Chris (Chris Nowinski), Jacky and Linda all from Tough Enough 2?

It is to my understanding that Jacky and Linda both won TE2 officially...but how is that since they are both female. Isn't there suppose to be a male and female winner for TE? How are they both the winner?

Also why is Harvard Chris even wrestling if he didn't win TE2? If he gets a contract anyway even though he didn't win, isn't that not fair to everyone else who ever went through TE? What did Harvard Chris do for the WWE to break the rules of TE and grant him a contract?

I'm sorry for being off topic, but this has been bothering me for awhile...so can someone explain this for me?

[VashTheStampede]

He was from TE 1 and I think during that one he was always the front-runner to win but then he got hurt and they ended up choosing Maven.

[The Penguin]

Just to completely clarify before we get back on topic. Chris Nowinski was from Tough Enough 1 and he and Josh Matthews (the smaller guy) both lost to Maven for the male winner spot. I'm also pretty sure he wasn't injured. Chris has been working some independants and I guess WWE thought enough of him to give him a shot.


Because of what has happened in the past I feel the need to say that this thread should not now degenerate into a bunch of thoughts about TE1. Someone had a quick question and it has now been answered. If you want to talk about how Chris did this week that is fine, but I don't want to come back later and see a bunch of "Well I always thought that (insert name here) guy should have won Tough Enough."

Thank you.

[JTurner954]

Anything can happen in the WWE, remember that??

You thought Harvard Chris is gone, but then he returns. It's called a swerve, people. When they do stuff to make you mad, consider that that may be the intention, ok??


Tough Enough 2 said that two people will win the spot, not one man and one women.

Ok, back to the topic. Does anyone else think Smackdown will be a better show?? Am I the only who thinks KOTR didn't affect Raw too much since most of the storylines were from the Smackdown program??

[BLACKHEART]

Smackdown is a better show. I think that Smackdown this week will be good but I don't like the fued they are setting up.

[EinBebop]

I just realized something... Vince said on RAW that *he* bought Smackdown? Such a short memory.