|
|
|
|
|
Submitted by Hustle on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 10:46 AM EST
 Good lookin out for the graphics work, Noc "The harder I walk, the ground shall shake.. stompin, the harder I march, the ground will break.. I am groundbreakin like an earthquake.. yeah, I run this shit, but I'll tackle it.. you want me to break it down, I'ma fracture it.." I'm like Adrian Peterson with the way I run things. Welcome back to The HIPE, ladies and gentlemen. You clicked the HIPE link, and that means you're here to read what I have to say. That's a whole lot of swagger. Allow me to reintroduce myself.. you can call me Hustle, and ladies, you can just flat-out call me. Thank you for joining me again today. I know what you're here for, and I think it's about that time. Shall I proceed? (Yes, indeed.) Less dew eet!! Let me look over at the calendar.. yup, just as I thought.. it's Tuesday. If it's Tuesday, that means yesterday was Monday. If yesterday was Monday, that means Raw was on yesterday. If Raw was on yesterday, that means my Raw recap is coming today. If my Raw recap is coming today.. aw, hell, you know how it goes..  - The opening segment with Stephanie & Shane was strange. I'll never complain whenever the beautiful Stephanie McMahon is on TV, but outside of Shane's remark about Steph sleeping with a member of the Raw roster, it seemed kinda pointless to me. They're obviously on the road to feuding, and I'm guessing that means Vince will make his return to lay the pimp hand down on his two bickering offspring (and probably name a new Raw GM in the process), but I've never been too terribly excited for Shane & Steph feuding. - Coming off of a really good tag match last week, I had a sneaking suspicion that this week's Michaels/Mysterio VS MorriMiz match wouldn't be as good, and unfortunately, I was right. Admittedly, though, the match wasn't the main focus, as it was the post-match activities that got the spotlight here. John Morrison showed some really great intensity during his post-match attack on Shawn Michaels, but the real story was JBL entering the ring and kicking Morrison in the face, saving Michaels in doing so. I'm really interested in the "transaction" that JBL referred to. C & I think it would be funny as all hell if it was WWE's version of the Main Event Mafia, with the older "veterans" banding together against the "young lions" because of the lack of respect they have. - I'm not saying this because it was Mr Kennedy, but damn.. the entire segment he was in was just terrible, and a huge waste of time. People hated it when WWE promoted the hell out of their movies that were going to be in theaters, but this is a movie that is going straight-to-DVD. On top of that, the movie was mentioned only in passing, which isn't really helping anything at all. The rest of the segment was just insanely dumb, with the WWE fans being asked which superstar reminds them of Barack Obama. It went on too long (and that wasn't even very long), and it didn't lead to anything, other than Kennedy getting to.. *gasp*.. say his name. - The Slammy Awards are returning in a few weeks, and I'm sure you folks will read numerous columns that have to do with year-end awards. Everyone has their opinions, of course, and that's a good time for everyone to get them out.. WWE marks, TNA marks, RoHbots, and everyone else. You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize.. it might be time to bring back The Hussie Awards. We shall see. - The strange start to Raw continued with the Kofi Kingston VS Kane match, as Kofi looked a tad off at points, and Kane getting himself DQ'ed two some-odd minutes into the match. He then gets rewarded with a match against John Cena on next week's edition of Raw. Is that Stephanie McMahon heeling it up and trying to take out Cena as some sort of "punishment", since it was her brother that gave Cena the title shot in the first place? Unless that's what it is, the decision didn't make a whole lot of sense. - The Triple Threat was a decent match, but nothing to get too excited about. Jericho winning the match was a nice touch, as it continues his streak of always being in the right place at the right time. He works so fucking well with Cena, anyway, so I can't say I'm too terribly upset with him getting the first shot at the new champion. - Pasquale & Francesco = Gangsta - The WWE Mobile commercial with Bret "The Hitman" Haas was another strange moment in a strange Raw. The guy really has nothing left to do in the company anymore. Sorry, Haas fans, but it's time that he hits the old dusty trail, and I don't mean Dusty Rhodes' belly hair. - Based on their two previous matches against each other, I'm really hoping for CM Punk to get the win in the IC Title #1 Contenders tournament. Those matches were both really good, and I have no doubts that another match would be, as well. Next up in the tourney, Rey Mysterio VS The Miz, as well as Finlay VS John Morrison. Then we hit the semifinals, with Kofi Kingston facing the winner of Mysterio/Miz, and Punk facing the winner of Finlay/Morrison. - Hmm.. attacking Evan Bourne, and now staring down Rey Mysterio? Looks like Mike Knox is in line for a nice push on Raw. Can't say I'm too surprised. I told you folks that he was on his way. What could be fun is if he has any interaction with Kelly Kelly, who played his girlfriend when both were on ECW, all the way back when ECW first started airing on Sci-Fi. What could also be fun is watching either Bourne or Mysterio sell Knox' finisher. That thing is a thing of brutal beauty. - Kelly Kelly always looks hot, but I really liked the look of her in a DX basketball jersey. Not because it was DX, but because she wears a jersey well. As a jersey connoisseur myself, I must say that I enjoy the look of a female in a jersey. Of course, it has to be those tight, ladies' cut style jerseys, not a XXXXXXXL baggy joint. It's a look that is cute, sexy, and sporty all at the same time. Alright, enough fashion talk. Ha. - It was really brief, but FCW's Milena Roucka (who performs as simply "Roucka") made an appearance in the crowd during the entrance of Beth Phoenix, Katie Lea, & Jillian for their match. She was holding a "Glamazon In Training" sign, and was acknowledged by Beth herself as she walked towards the ring steps. Here's the pic of Roucka holding the sign:  Here's another picture of her, just for shits and giggles:  I'm really mad at myself, because I almost mentioned her in my most recent edition of "Ask Hustle" when asked which member of the FCW roster should get called up to the main roster next. I still get credit for bringing her up on the LoP Forums a few months back, saying how hot she is, and how she should be on Raw already. I'm a psychic. From her first appearance, perhaps she's going to play Mickie James to Beth's Trish Stratus? Could be. - As for the Divas match itself, it was alright, but damn, it was good to see Melina back. She's still as hot as ever, and she didn't seem timid in the ring like a lot of Divas do when they return from injury. Oh, and a note to whomever is in charge of this in WWE.. please, please, please, please, PLEASE make Melina's finisher that quasi-Canadian Destroyer that she pulled off on Katie Lea. That was spectacular, and it was much better than the move she did use as her finisher. Sure, it's always fun for me to watch her do the splits, but the move itself wasn't very impactful. - Ah, the final segment with Cena and Jericho. It was beautiful. Fuck it, this deserves its own big section here: First of all, let me just say that Chris Jericho is currently doing the best work of his entire career. By that, I mean his entire career, not just his WWE career. His heel work is just masterful these days, and it's something that I didn't think he had in him upon his return to the company. He's just the right guy to be working with Cena in his return from injury, as he has what it takes to make Cena look like a million bucks, while making himself look like a million bucks in the process. Another thing I noticed about the promo, and something that I've mentioned in the past.. Cena put Jericho over as a legitimate contender when he was speaking about him. Triple H could stand to take a few notes about that. Like I mentioned when I brought it up.. making your opponent look like shit in your promos does absolutely nothing for anyone. If you beat them, it's not a big deal because they're some sort of a joke in your eyes. If they beat you, it makes you look really bad because you just lost to some who, apparently, doesn't belong in the ring with you. Triple H does that so often when speaking about his opponents, and it's probably because there's nobody in the company that will tell him to wise the fuck up and start helping his opponents out more. Cena took the time to verbally state how good Jericho was in the ring, and really, that's what is really important in the wrestling world. Something else I enjoyed was the fact that Cena's promo about the fans basically gave his haters a choice.. cheer during a promo of someone they dislike, or boo and sound like a fucking tool because they're booing the mention that they, the WWE fanbase, are what matters the most. He puts the fans over, and they boo. It's almost like he was playing a prank on the haters, and the idea is one I fully support. I will say this, however.. perhaps it's because he was gone for a while, or perhaps it's because the past two shows have been in his section of the country, but damn, he's getting much more of a face reaction than he did before SummerSlam. That situation will be interesting to monitor as time goes on. Finally, I love the way Cena snapped on Jericho at the end, beating the holy hell out of him for a few minutes. It was almost as if the company was finding a compromise between those saying Cena should turn heel, and those countering that by saying merchandise sales would drop if he did turn. He got a chance to show a colder side to his character, which was nice, but he did it against such a hated heel that he remains a face, even though that was a really strong heel-like beatdown. Everything about him changed.. the look in his eyes, his demeanor, the way he moved, etc. Just like Jeff Hardy's recent character tweaks, this is something I'd like to see more of in the future, if not just a full-on change. All in all, this was an interesting episode of Raw. The first half, up until the start of the Triple Threat, was just awkward and weird. The second half, although it had its "down" moments (Goldust VS Santino, the WWE Mobile commercial), was considerably better and had more entertainment and better wrestling overall. Click Here For The HIPE & HIPRN Archives, in case you'd like to go back and read any of my 50 or so Main Page columns What Hustle Is Listening To Right Now: "Keep Hatin Part 2" by Chamillionaire.. "Internet Nerd's Brother" by Chamillionaire.. "Creepin" by Chamillionaire & Ludacris.. "Texas Fo Life" by Chamillionaire.. "No Way" by Chamillionaire I want to take this time to apologize to everyone reading this right now, because I need to cut this column short. My computer is acting up big-time right now, and it won't let me stay on for more than a few minutes at a time before it freezes up on me. If I don't just post something right now, I may not get a chance to get anything up. Best-case scenario, I'll be back later in the day to post something else, just to make up for this being so short. Worst-case scenario, my computer pisses me off to the point that I throw it off the balcony, and I won't be around for a few days at least. The most-likely scenario is that I'll be back tomorrow with another edition of The HIPE. Again, I'm really sorry for this, but I'd rather put out something short than not put out anything at all. Let's just hope my computer decides to work with me a bit more next time, because I've got a few ideas cookin up in the lab right now. We're gonna cut out the usual outro shit, so just keep your peepers peepin for my next banger, whenever it is. Get at me. "I'm exceedin expectations, you barely meeting quota.. I give it to em straight, you cut it with baking soda.." "See, that's the difference between you and I.. you get money, and you get crazy.. I get crazy, and I get money.." Hustle HIPRNFeedback@gmail.com 
|
|