As a two hour television show, Raw was great. Rey Mysterio beat The Miz to win the WWE Championship in a really good match to start the show. When Mysterio is given time to do his thing, there are very few better than him. Triple H made a few proclamations, one being that Jim Ross is back on TV, and hopefully for good, however long good is. John Cena beat Mysterio for his newly won championship at the end of the show in another good match (thanks to Rey). And then the cult of personality came back. CM Punk walked to the ring and stood toe-to-toe with John Cena, raising his belt in the air after Cena raised his.

Now, if someone told me all of those things were going to happen over a month span, I’d have been pretty excited. The fact that they happened within a span of a two hour show bothered me. WWE may have missed the boat here. To me, the key to the CM Punk angle was that his win over John Cena at Money In The Bank was so important and meant so much that he didn’t really have to wrestle again. It should’ve been Cena, not Punk, who was reactive and begging for a rematch because he lost. Maybe that’s where they will still go and having Punk come back to one-up Cena is only there to make Cena anxious about getting his rematch.

(And wouldn’t this thing be hotter if Cena didn’t have the “interim” title? Shouldn’t he be chasing his ass off right now?)

What doesn’t make sense to me is that if Triple H re-signed Punk, what was all the Comic-Con stuff about where Punk insulted his wife? Yep, insult a man’s wife and he wants to throw millions of dollars at you to bring you back after you disrespected his father-in-law and made him go crazy. I guess they can figure it all out and make it logical at the end, but I have my doubts. I really thought the CM Punk angle was one that they could’ve stretched out for months to crescendo into something really hot. Last night, he looked like a superstar, but he’d only been gone from TV for one week and the steam is already coming off.

It should also only take them about 25 months to get to the 1000th episode.

6:03PM – Bret is back! Wait, I thought the General Manager never wanted Bret on WWE TV again?

6:06PM – Hart says that he and the Undertaker were the only two guys who were on the first Raw and who are still with the company. Kane’s music plays and he walks out. Talk about a bait and switch.

6:09PM – Kane brings up Shawn MIchaels and how Bret must’ve loved watching the Undertaker retire him. Jeez, the writers must hate us tonight. Isn’t is supposed to be a celebration?

6:12PM – Kane attacks Bret, the Hart Dynasty come in, and the Undertaker appears and sends Kane walking away. My iPod Touch notification sounds, I mean, the GM e-mails Michael Cole and says that Bret Hart will face Taker. Sigh.

6:13PM – They only thing I remember about the very first raw is Bobby Heenan trying to get inside the building.

6:18PM – Dream nerd tag match – Kaval and Daniel Bryan vs. Michael McGillicuddy and Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz and Alex Riley. Ok, maybe only a dream nerd tag team.

6:22PM – Miz had to skull crush poor Kaval for the finale. Then he had to clip Bryan with his briefcase. I wonder if this was their way of trying to get people to vote for Alex Riley for tomorrow’s NXT season finale?

6:31PM – Melina pinned Layla in a tag match with Melina and Eve vs. LayCool. Eve didn’t even get in the match. Maybe they’re running low on time. LayCool challenged Melina to a title unification match. I’m guessing this is at Night Of Champions. I say they keep the Diva belt over the women’s title. Melina accepted as long as it’s a Lumberjack match. King or Cole made sure to use the term Lumberjills. Melina must’ve messed up.

6:40PM – So far, out of four of the historic packages they’ve shown, two have been from the last two years. What an utter fail. No one wants to see that stuff. We want to see Austin, Rock, Foley, and HBK. Well, it’s better than the HHH hype that I expect to be coming shortly.

6:41PM – Chris Jericho just said that he’s quitting or retiring if he doesn’t win the title at Night Of Champions. This was just after they reminded folks in the first segment that HBK is retired.

6:49PM – Cole brought up Jim Ross’ name and called the following match a possible slobberknocker – John Morrison and R-Truth vs. Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. I don’t think Cole understands what the word means.

6:51PM – Double DQ – I think the last two matches have lasted a combined four minutes.

7:01PM – Wade Barrett came in with the idea that he was going to beat up both legends and it took Taker all of about 10 seconds to beat him up and kick him out of the ring. Well, it was nice thinking you had a good shot to stand out Wade. Then it got dark and we heard the dong and instead of Bret, Kane was in the ring. We heard the dong again and Kane was gone. Then the rest of Nexus walked down to the ring sans Skip Sheffield. Taker then beat all of them up. It went dark again and Barrett had Taker on his shoulders and dumped him on the ground. Gabriel splashed him from the top rope Scorpio style, while Kane cackled.

7:15PM – Swagger and Bourne were having a match while Alberto Del Rio came down to the ring and they did a split screen. Bourne missed the shooting star and landed on his feet. Ouch. Swagger put him in the ankle lock. Del Rio was happy to beat up Rey, but it wasn’t perfect because he didn’t do it on Raw. Then he decided to go after another chihuahua and put Bourne in the arm bar. Henry RAN DOWN for the save.

7:25PM – If you had the under on 90 minutes as the time they’d show This Is Your Life Rock, you won.

7:28PM – CM Punk’s promo included the name Katie Vick. Then he said if it went over your head, YouTube it and it will drive you to drink. He might be top three in promos right now. He counted down some of Raw’s craziest moments like the WCW Invasion and John Cena throwing Edge into the lake. Interestingly, they included Austin’s beer bash on Santino rather than the original. I didn’t even remember the Santino one. He also teased Stone Cold coming in, straight with Austin’s music. After Bret/Taker, isn’t that enough bait and switching?

7:34PM – It took them 94 minutes to get Brock Lesnar on the show. It was the moment he and Show crashed the ring.

7:37PM – The Big Show came down and started doing Hulk Hogan impersonations like this was 2000 and he was the Showster.

7:43PM – I can’t believe it took them over 100 minutes to show HHH’s return from injury in 2002. Well, maybe they waited until late since he was jacked out of his mind and looked like he was on more steroids than any WWE superstar ever.

7:47PM – Edge called Sheamus, Beaker who hasn’t been seen except for in Muppet movies since the early 80s. You know what he was watching when he was 10.

8:00PM – Main event time and Chris Jericho starts off against Michael Tarver but walks out. He’s eliminated. I guess this is an elimination match. Then Edge came in and pushed down the referee and was DQ’d. It’s 5-3 now.

8:06PM – The heat was on Sheamus forever and then he just lost. It’s 5-2.

8:07PM – Cena easily pinned Slater and it’s 4-2.

8:10PM – Cena makes Otunga submit and then rolls to the corner for whatever reason, only to get 450 splashed by Gabriel. And he’s out. Looks like Orton gets to be Stone Cold Steve Austin tonight. Yep, Gabriel is RKO’d and out. It’s 2-1. Did I say 2-1, I meant 1-1. Orton RKO’d Tarver too. Whoops, looks like Orton won’t be Stone Cold. Barrett put Orton on his shoulders and slammed him. Match over.

That might’ve been the most overbooked show in all of Raw. Sheesh.

This is interesting because the last time TNA went head to head with WWE on Monday Nights was the infamous January 4th show when they made their debuts. Apparently, rather than try to pop a buyrate by having Flair’s first televised match since his retirement on this hemisphere and Hogan’s last in forever, they are planning to throw haymakers at WWE.

The planned match as of this writing is AJ Styles and Ric Flair vs. Abyss and Hulk Hogan. Sources close to TNA have speculated that the Abyss feud with AJ is only a placeholder until The Pope can retake the primary feud.

This is an interesting strategy to examine considering that the rumors of RVD coming in and Jeff Hardy returning on that date are going to be running rampant as we approach March 8th, but just to seal the deal, will have Hogan and Flair make a dual debut. I wonder if this is just a desperation tactic for that night. The issue is – how will they be able to follow it up afterward?

Rumors are also flying that the final Thursday Impact is set to be headlined by AJ Styles vs. Desmond Wolfe vs. Abyss vs. The Pope in a non-title four-way. Should be a fun match, but I wouldn’t have Pope and AJ touch until Lockdown. Oh well, this is TNA.

Brother, if it wasn’t 1995-esque before… it sure as hell is now!

They were able to keep the intrigue alive of who Edge was going to challenge, as he teased spearing The Undertaker at the end of the show. He also went face to face with Chris Jericho, giving Chris Jericho the “how dare you?” for being happy that Edge was injured and unable to continue doing his childhood dream. Edge was in total babyface mode. CM Punk was also made strong as he danced with Jericho, Edge, and Taker in the main event segment.

The other intriguing angle from Smackdown was Dave Batista losing to Punk in the match to be the participant in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber. After showing footage of Batista attacking John Cena after Raw went off the air, Batista walked out of his match and was counted out, taking him out of the chamber match and adding more intrigue to the John Cena/Vince McMahon/Bret Hart storyline. Why did Batista opt out? Did Vince want him to opt out? We got a little bit of progression on Monday when Vince admitted that he paid Batista to attack Bret Hart, but it’s not yet transparent.

Now that both Elimination Chambers are set, here are the main events for the formerly known as No Way Out PPV.

WWE champion Sheamus vs. Triple H vs. Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase vs. John Cena vs. Kofi Kingston

World champion The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison vs. R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio

On Raw, there were three major angles that were the focus of the show, and two of them were well done. The third didn’t do all that much for me. Let’s start with that one. The Legacy break-up is something I’m looking forward to mostly because I love Cody Rhodes’ work and also because I really want to see if they think Ted DiBiase is the real deal. To me, Rhodes stands out more even though they usually book the son of The Million Dollar Man more strongly. But not on this night. Because Orton wanted to prove a couple of points, he booked himself with Cody and Ted Jr. with John Cena. Only one of those points was proven. Orton lost his match to Rhodes because he was transfixed on Sheamus’ whiteness in the lights and then Teddy was destroyed by Cena, which made no sense to me. Shouldn’t both of the former Team Priceless have looked good, and if they’re pushing DiBiase higher, shouldn’t he have at least looked best?

Shawn Michaels is only cementing his legend as one of the greatest WWE performers ever. He was tremendous in his role as the crazy guy whose obsession with beating The Undertaker is taking over his career. In pushing this storyline, they also put over The Miz and The Big Show at the same time, which meant that they could continue to get someone over (The Miz) while progressing one of the top storylines. Smart booking like that is rare it seems these days. It’s usually one or the other, and not both. I think I can get with ShowMiz for a while.

The only problem I had with the three-way match is that Punk and Luke Gallows were beaten seemingly easily, which showed that Raw is still better than Smackdown and ECW. Christian also lost to Sheamus in a good match that saw Sheamus get a nice victory. But there was definitely a pecking order involved here. Smackdown and ECW, welcome to Raw. Now leave after losing.

And lastly, how can you not like what they’re doing with Vince McMahon and Bret Hart. Though I still think this ends up as a tag team match, Vince vs. Bret seemed like a big deal. I was mesmerized with the end of Raw from Vince’s strut to his promo, to Cena’s slow starting and slow building promo which ended with a bang (which Jim Ross thought was money), to Bret Hart attacking Vince McMahon like I always thought he should’ve.

I think a tremendous segment on a future show would be Bret Hart telling Shawn Michaels that while he doesn’t need to prove to anyone how great he is, that if he wants that match with The Undertaker, he should do whatever he can to get it.

Will HBK get into the Smackdown chamber match somehow and cause Taker to lose his match? That seems like a logical way that we’re headed and it’s something I’d love to see.

Both Raw and Smackdown were money shows and this build to Mania is taking shape and looking great.

Week 1 thoughts

When I think about it, there are numerous reasons as to why the show did such a good number, but I’m not really sure what really pushed it that high. The show had a series of pay-per-view caliber matches in terms of booking (in fact a lot were rematches from the past couple of PPVs and Wrestlemania) as well as the presence of WWE superstars from all three brands. However, the main draw of the show was that it was the first (and we would find out last) night with Donald Trump as the “Owner of Raw”. They did a big press conference and whatnot to build up hype for the show and perhaps that popped the rating and got most of the casual audience to watch.

Therefore, a number of theories pop up as to why this show was so successful in terms of viewership:

- Commercial Free Aspect
- Because of the presence of all three brands
- Because of Orton vs. Triple H on Free TV
- Curiosity views from people who thought Trump bought Raw legitimately
- Other

So us here at FightGameBlog want to hear from YOU – the readership. We appreciate each and every one of you who check out our little site that could and want to hear your thoughts. Tell us what YOU think helped Raw get a 4.5 and why. To answer, click the little comment button underneath this post and let us know! When you click it, it will ask you for your name, e-mail, and website (if you have one) as well as a blank box. Feel free to fill in what you think and let us know (and don’t worry – e-mails are kept private).

Draft #1: WWE United States Champion MVP from Smackdown to RAW.

Big D – Nice push for MVP. Rey is probably going back to Smackdown and taking the IC Belt with him. I hope MVP doesn’t take a pedigree anytime soon.
GG – It either means that Rey is moving next, or that they’re going to unify the IC and US belts.

2009 Draft Match #2: Kane (RAW) defeated Brian Kendrick (SD): Squash.

Draft #2: Big Show from Smackdown to RAW.

Big D – Eh… alright
GG – It looks like they’re going to continue the deal with Vickie and him. I wonder if Edge also moves over?

2009 Draft Match #3: Michelle McCool, Natalia, and Maryse (SD) defeated Melina, Mickie James, & Kelly Kelly (RAW): Short and relatively boring. They have all this time and we’re not seeing any real wrestling matches.

Draft #3: WWE Women’s Champ Melina from RAW to Smackdown.

Big D – Title Unification?
GG – It’s a smart choice and I hope that Rey follows. Smackdown should have all the women.

2009 Draft Match #4 (for TWO Draft Picks): World Champ John Cena (RAW) defeated. ECW Champion Jack Swagger (ECW): I like this match a lot. Old school match. Cena’s raw power (no pun intended) against Swagger’s technical prowess. This is a great showcase of Swag’s skills. Cena won cleanly with an STF. Great Match!

Draft #4: Matt Hardy from Smackdown to RAW
Draft #5: WWE Champion Triple H from Smackdown to RAW

Big D – Smackdown loses the WWE and US belts to RAW in exchange for the Women’s Title. They will have to do a few title changes here and there to fix this.
GG – I wonder if Jeff Hardy now comes to Raw. It’s quite obvious that they’re loading up Raw bringing Hardy and HHH over.
Duan – OK, HHH leaving is a sign of things to come. They are giving up on Smackdown.

2009 Draft Match #5: Great Khali (SD) defeated Santino (RAW): Beth comes out and says that if Santino loses, Santina will be a guest on the Khali Kiss Cam next week. Pure comedy squash. For a 3 hour show – this is extremely rushed.

Draft #6: CM Punk from RAW to Smackdown.

Big D – So if the Kiss Cam is on RAW next week, does this mean Khali is gonna get drafted on stay on Smackdown and just appear on RAW? That’s right – this Draft… (Say it with me) DOESN’T MATTER! As for Punk – I guess he’ll do better there.
GG – Punk – I guess he is slotted higher just based on the move, which is probably good for him.
Duan – And I thought Punk was going to be the first Money In The Bank winner not to take the title.

2009 Draft Match #6: Kofi Kingston (RAW) defeated The Miz (ECW): This was a pretty fun match. The middle part with the rest-hold sort of killed the crowd, but remember – this is a FOUR HOUR SHOW. Great near-falls near the end. Overall though these guys do work well together.

Draft #7: The Miz from ECW to RAW

Big D – RAW wins again in the “RAW Roster Rape”, As expected, Miz & Morrison were split.
GG – I’d have to see what they’re going to do with him before I even have a clue about this one.

2009 Draft Match #7: Edge (Smackdown) won a 15 Man Tri-Branded Battle Royal (for TWO Draft Pics): I’m not going to count up the people in this match, but just know that the new draft picks switched over tonight are on their new brands.

Draft #8: Chris Jericho from RAW to Smackdown.
Draft #9: Kane from RAW to Smackdown

Big D – Jericho was the big rumor, but Kane? Does it even matter?
Duan – Kane is the most stale character in WWE. That is not a win for Smackdown. I like the idea of Jericho really dominating on the weaker brand while getting to work with some new people.

2009 Draft Match #8: Christian (ECW) defeated Shelton Benjamin (Smackdown) : THIS was an AMAZING match. Both of these guys wanted to show off what they could do on RAW since neither guy has been on that brand in years. They went all out and it’s a damn shame WWE is so thickheaded to not push these guys!

Draft #10: Vladimir Koslov from Smackdown to ECW.

Big D – This is NOT an improvement for ECW. EVEN LESS reason to watch that show.
Duan – I support that pick. I no longer have to watch Koslov wrestle.

2009 Draft Match #9: Matt Hardy (RAW) defeated CM Punk (Smackdown) via disqualification : I’m fine with them having just a series of good matches that mean something. The Draft is cool like that and I like the kayfabe irony that this match was “booked earlier today”, but now due to the draft, they’re representing opposite brands. Nice! This was a really good wrestling match and like Kofi/Miz, with a crappy DQ finish (but it at least made sense). At least we’re getting good matches on this thing and everything seems important despite it not mattering in a month (or week). Jeff attacked Matt, causing the DQ. Matt wins.

Draft #11: WWE Divas Champion Maryse from Smackdown to RAW.

Big D – I guess they are not unifying everything – just swapping the belts

Draft Match #10: Chris Jericho (Smackdown) vs. Tommy Dreamer (ECW): Doesn’t make much sense to book this logically like it did Punk/Hardy – so throw that out the window. Jericho wins (as if you didn’t know?)

Draft #12: WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio from RAW to Smackdown.

Big D – Not unexpected. Michael Hayes has been pushing for Rey to return so that they can strengthen the hispanic demo. Besides him, Melina moved and if you combine that with the Colons and the debuting Eric Escobar – that’s FIVE hispanics. Four boys and one girl – that’s like a small family at the K-Mart Blue Light Special. Ha!
Duan – As D predicted. It was the logical choice. He meant far more on Smackdown than he ever did on Raw.

And that does it for us tonight folks…

Why is JR still stuck on Smackdown and we have to deal with “Vintage Cole” for another year. But they swapped Smackdown and RAW mid-card and women’s belts.

The Supplemental Draft is on Wednesday on WWE.com at noon.