The Wrath of Tito - RAW review, Smackdown thoughts, Storm, NWA, more
Submitted by Mr. Tito on Tuesday, April 27, 2004 at 12:13 PM EST
Welcome back to the Wrath of Tito, the column that brings the heart of the Phat Daily Column to you on a weekly basis! It's been a fun week of entertainment for yours truly, for I got a Game Cube for my birthday (given that I play my brothers so much). I went out to Electronics Boutique and bought up some cheap games. I did purchase Def Jam Vendetta... solid game with the AKI engine. The action is much more smoother than Wrestlemania 2000 or No Mercy (doesn't have slowdowns like No Mercy). I hope they release a second one with a "create a wrestler" mode on it.
I also purchased NHL Hitz by Midway. I loved NFL Blitz for the N64 (I also bought it for the Game Cube, too), so I figured, this has to be good. Oh man, I'm loving NHL Hitz! It has the kind of hockey I want to see, which is a more open style of play. Plus, it's 3 on 3 hockey, and the options for the game are very good.
Enough about video games. I did gets some DVD's. Aside from Chapelle Season 1, which is hilarious uncensored, I got the Steel Cages DVD from the WWE. I've only taken a peak at it so far. It seems as though it's more of a highlight video than the many matches itself. I'll take a second viewing.
-Speaking of second viewing, after I write this column, I'm off to Suncoast Video to pick up my reserved copy of Wrestlemania 20. I bought the DVD on Wednesday, I believe, paying for it in full. The next day, I read news that the Goldberg vs. Lesnar match now has the crowd reaction edited. That's bullshit on the WWE's part. If I didn't collect the damn Wrestlemanias, for I have 1-19 on VHS or DVD, I'd boycott this DVD. Many fans will check this DVD out just for the fan reaction in THAT match, but the WWE denies them of this. It looks like the match was edited as a "good will" towards Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar, for I bet at least one of those guys will come crawling back to the WWE. Personally, Smackdown could use both wrestlers right now.
-And speaking of Smackdown, I actually saw some positives this week. Bring back Paul Heyman as the GM, while you can! I'll forgive the gaping storyline hole from the Lottery Draft, where Heyman was taken off Smackdown and quit being on the RAW roster immediately. I like Kurt Angle, but part of the show's dullness may have been from his role as its spokesman. But the show lacks good storylines and built up wrestlers, but a good step was taken with the Dudley Boyz. A heel turn! Now, the Dudleys must ACT like heels. That means doing more vicious tag moves than the What's Up Drop. DO NOT get the tables! And give the guys mic time, for the love of God. Now, hearing Bubba tell the crowd that a daughter was taught how to "suck a dick" from her mother is stretching it. But Bubba's untapped mic skills as a heel have yet to be attempted properly by the WWE, aside from the stuttering thing he did when he came in.
Smackdown tag titles are worthless, as proven by the worthless duo of Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty losing to the slapped together tag team of Rico and Charlie Haas. Granted, Haas was a member of a fantastic tag team. BUT, Haas/Rico won the titles on no build up whatsoever, especially as a tag team. I guess the only positive is that Rico is doing something worthwhile for a change, unless they are just a transitional tag team. I still insist on pushing Chavo up to the Heavyweight division. Oh no, the Undertaker vs. Booker T feud is starting!!! Retire while you can, Booker!!!!!! The main event was OK, but was a good first step for the Dudleys. Now, if they can keep Heyman as the GM, Heyman can help them remain strong as heels, too.
-Lance Storm announced on his website that he'll be retiring from full-time wrestling, for he'll now become a trainer down at the Ohio Valley Wrestling facility. Storm has been suffering through injuries for the past year, including 4 bulging discs in his lower back and a problem with his sciatic nerve (which Yahoo says is located on the back of your leg: "This nerve controls the muscles of the back of the knee and lower leg and provides sensation to the back of the thigh, part of the lower leg and the sole of the foot."). My best of luck goes to Lance Storm. Yes, I heavily disagreed with the position he took on Lesnar vs. Goldberg. I won't take that away from the years he entertained me, especially during his WCW run where I thought he peaked (in my opinion).
-Kevin Nash and Randy Savage in NWA-TNA?!? Now granted, I see NWA-TNA's idea of getting name wrestlers in just to catch the fans' attention, given that not everybody knows AJ Styles, outside of TNA fans. But Kevin Nash and Randy Savage?!? Nash is coming off a bad quad injury, which completely slowed him down when he returned to the WWE after the injury. Maybe his appearance in the Punisher gives him some name value, even though the Punisher has been a bust for a Marvel movie. Yes, he's a multiple time WCW champion and a one time WWE champion. Big whoop! He's pushing 50, and the way injuries have hit that man, he might as well be 60! Then, you have Randy Savage, whom TNA has been after for a while. Savage has a bigger movie role than Nash. Savage has the luxury of staying out of the ring for several years, so maybe, just maybe, fans might forget when he came back to wrestling with the pony tail, a larger frame, and Gorgeous George at his side. I believe the last time we saw Savage in WCW was during his feud with Kevin Nash, you know, when they played pranks on each other like dumping puke into a limo, etc. If Randy Savage is healed up and prepped for a comeback, then maybe he's worth it. But please, NWA-TNA, pass on Kevin Nash. He won't draw any new fans, for fans dropped in numbers in WCW when he got his title pushes and he did nothing for the WWE when he was there in 2002 and 2003.
NWA-TNA, by the way, has yet to publicly announce the FOX deal. They must be hammering out some issues in the deal? To be honest, NWA-TNA doesn't have much to bargain on, other than the company breaking even on Pay Per View. Just getting the TV deal is step one... once you prove that the fed is successful, then you can re-negotiate terms. If NWA-TNA doesn't get this deal done soon, FOX might take the offer off the table and NWA-TNA will be stuck on Pay Per View forever.
-Jeff Hardy might be returning to the WWE? Is his heart into wrestling again? And if he returns, will the bookers take him seriously to keep him motivated?
-Also for my birthday, I received Freddie Blassie's book. I read the foreword by Vince McMahon. Pretty touching stuff, which shows you why Vince kept Blassie on the WWE payroll after taking the company over during the 1980's.
On to the RAW review!
RAW is TITO
RAW started off with Victoria/Lita vs. Molly Holly/Gail Kim. Victoria, by the way, has been looking fantastic lately by the way. She's really a standout now on the RAW roster, and that includes Stacy Keibler. Decent stuff whenever Victoria was in the ring, while Lita sucked any life out of the match, as usual, when she was in. Lita did get the pin off a DDT, of all moves, to win the match. Kane comes down to the ring afterward, checking out Lita. Poor Lita can't act scared if she tried. Lita ran to the back to find Matt Hardy, and Matt gets his eventually by Kane backstage. Ok, so Lita's not working well as a face. So you turn her heel as possibly Kane's new love? Whatever, but nothing will cure her lacking wrestling ability lately.
The Coach was in the ring to taunt the crowd about being the only worthwhile citizen out of Kansas. Tajiri took offense, and came out and actually challenged the Coach in English! Holy cow! No wonder Tajiri is still on the WWE roster, despite being Japanese! Triple H, for whatever reason, interrupted the interview by coming down to the ring. He stated that Shawn shouldn't get the title match since he tapped at Backlash. I guess that's a reason for another 3 way match to occur next Monday? I swear, the WWE fans are going to be denied a true Michaels vs. Benoit match for this whole entire year, aside from their previous encounter on RAW before Wrestlemania. The segment ended with Tajiri hitting the green mist on Triple H. That was pretty cool, and HHH later selling being blind backstage with Bischoff and early in the Tajiri match was good as well. What?!? Positive things said about HHH, in this column?!?
Next, it was Rhyno vs. Rob Conway. Not much of a match, but it didn't receive much attention due to the focus on Eugene. Eugene goofed went to the sound or fireworks area, and during the match, he set off a bunch of fireworks and pyro. It distracted Conway to allow Rhyno to win with the GOAR, GOAR, GOAR. After the match, Conway got a match with Eugene in 2 weeks, meaning Eugene has 2 weeks to prepare to wrestle. Hopefully, Eugene will say that the retardation was all an act to fool the fans and reveal he's a normal wrestler against Conway.
Grandmaster Sex-ay vs. Christian was next. Oh man, was this match torture to get through, or what? See, good heels can wrestle a piece of crap and at least make the match watchable. Christian can't do this. Christian eventually won the match, and Chris Jericho's newly remixed theme with new Titantron hits. Good stuff. I disagree with a lot of fans who insist that Jericho should replace his theme. "Break the Walls Down" is so insanely perfect for Jericho. The only thing I'd ditch is the "Y2J" stuff, which was aimed to ride off the Y2K stuff during late 1999. Welcome to 2003. Jericho storms the ring from the crowd, fooling Tyson Tomko, and tosses Christian out and applies the Walls on Trish Stratus. Tomko chases Jericho off thereafter, I believe. By the way, does anybody want to bet me that Tomko is just another cookie cutter guy, like Batista?
And in the 2nd positive moment of the day for HHH, Triple H vs. Tajiri was a pretty solid top-of-the-hour match. Triple H actually SOLD offense from someone not named Michaels or Benoit, and in addition, HHH seemed up for the match. Someone inform Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler about the Octopus submission move Tajiri applied on HHH during the match, because those fools didn't know what to call it. I really liked HHH's counter to the Tarantula. HHH won the match after avoiding a 2nd green mist, and HHH hit the pedigree. See, this is the HHH I want to see. A guy who gives a fighting chance to any opponent. Because Tajiri gave HHH the mist, Triple H was slightly weaker than normal. HHH let Tajiri get some offense in, but still won the match because Tajiri is a Cruiserweight wrestler and HHH was the World Champion. Give me this instead of HHH beatdowns everyweek, and you'll NEVER hear me complain about HHH one bit.
Matt Hardy vs. Kane was up next. Crappy match, which ended with Lita pleading with Kane not to hurt Matt. Actually, with how Matt broke up with Lita, why is she so loyal to Matt? After the match, Kane kissed Lita in a very ackward scene. I'll be quiet here, wondering where this storyline will go. Then again, the WWE has demolished every other Kane storyline...
Next, we had Jerry Lawler hyping the Divas DVD and magazine. Why not hype Wrestlemania 20's DVD, while you're out there? Randy Orton interrupts, and he was getting good heat from the Topeka fans. Good for him. I'm still not sold on Orton's abilities, but if the fans are really starting to hate him for his Foley feud, then good for him (and props to Foley for completely putting Orton over). Orton takes offense to Harley Race on the outside, and eventually spits in Race's face. Actually, many WWE wrestlers would spit in Race's face for doing the "Secrets of Wrestling Special" or whatever it was called (it aired on NBC). Shelton Benjamin, not Edge, would run in and attack Orton for his actions. That could be a good feud, at least in the ring. Mr. Scott Keith (check out his BLOG at http://www.livejournal.com/~rspwfaq/ ) had a really good idea with Randy Orton calling out his own father, Cowboy Bob Orton, as a legend.
A much better tag match this week between Chris Benoit/Edge vs. Flair/Batista. Nice back and forth stuff, and it's amazing to see how good Ric Flair STILL is in the ring. The match ended with Edge spearing Ric Flair. Benoit/Edge retaining the titles could very well mean that Benoit is losing the World Title next week in Phoenix. I'd disagree with Benoit losing the World Title... he's pretty over as champion, whereas Michaels now gets mixed reactions and HHH was stale as champion. After the match, HHH hit the ring. Michaels tried to hit HHH with a chair, but hit Benoit accidentally instead. Benoit later got pissed off and slapped Michaels into the Sharpshooter to end the show.
LAST WORD: This week's RAW had some strong moments, but it also had some severely weak moments, too. Anything with Evolution seemed to really work this week, and that's a good thing. I'll go a generous [ B+ ] on this show, allowing for the positive to outweight any negatives. Keep this Triple H stuff going for next week instead of the usual HHH beatdowns we are accustomed to seeing.
Mr. Tito's BLOG! My thoughts on Sports, Politics, Entertainment, and everything NOT Wrestling!
Willygoat Valley Wrestling - A Backyard Fed that's Still Alive and Kickin'!
LoPForums.com
@That's all for today. Thanks a million for reading.
Mr. Tito © 1998 - 2004 LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com
Early 8/28 News: WWE's BIGGEST Match Coming Soon, Several BIG TNA-WWE Names Jumping Ship, R-Truth Heat, Edge, LOTS MORE!
