Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Another edition of Raw as we have draftees debuting, draftees returning, and wrestlers being investigated. Just another night on Monday Night Raw

- Off and running this week with a video package recapping the past week with the “death” of Vince McMahon. I’ve been ok with this angle but in light of Sherri Martel dying this past week it is sort of in bad taste. Most of the angles have some kind of underlying base in reality. I can only imagine what is going through McMahon’s head to go with this angle.

- Mick Foley is out there to start and is issuing an apology of sorts for the way he made fun of McMahon last week. Randy Orton then comes out and says Mick shouldn’t be allowed to just apologize like that because he had motive to do the job. Booker T then comes out and says there is a FBI investigator in the building and he is interviewing Bobby Lashley who had motive. That brings out Lashley who throws Booker to the ground and Orton retreats. Cena hits the ring and says we shouldn’t point fingers but rather focus on doing as the McMahon’s asked and let the show go on. That brings out Coach and he makes our Raw main event of Randy Orton and King Booker teaming up against Bobby Lashley and John Cena. He then makes a match with Mick Foley facing Umaga. That should be interesting.

- Raw apparently is 3 hours again next week.

- Paul London and Brian Kendrick are out to make their Raw debuts and are taking on The World’s Greatest Tag Team. The battle of under-appreciated tag teams. Lawler takes away from the match by saying London was the only one smiling when McMahon was leaving the building last week. If they keep this up I will sour on this angle quickly.

They don’t give these guys near enough time but the crowd seems to be into the match. Finish comes when Kendrick hits the Sliced Bread #2 on Charlie Haas. I’m shocked they kept that name of the move.

- We head to the back and the Federal Investigator is in the back interviewing Coach.

- Carlito is out and offers his condolescenes to the McMahon family. He says Flair and Torrie Wilson are lucky becasue they got moved away so Carlito couldn’t beat them up anymore. Sandman’s music hits and he comes down through the crowd. He uses his head as a can crusher and then swings the Singapore Cane at Carlito but he ducks and bails out. I tried to smash a can on my forehead once like that- I gave myself a concussion and woke up 3 days later. I still think it’s stupid to get yourself all bloody before a match but then again- I’m not a drunk.

- Replay of the week is the same replay of the week from last week. That seems impossible. At least nwo they’ve edited it so it looks like Murdoch actually knocked Jeff Hardy’s foot off the rope. Surprised the production department could work this week in light of Vince’s death.

- Cryme Tyme is on now to discuss what made McMahon. This segues into the Shopping Network where they try to sell a half eaten steak or something. The Investigator then comes in to interview Cryme Tyme- that’s kind of profiling isn’t it?

- Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade have joined us at the announce table for Daivari versus Jeff Hardy.

Daivari has to be in line to get some kind of a push. He went along happily with their stupid Muhammad Hassan angle and actually thought it was tasteful. That makes him one of, well, one. He also shows some pretty good fire and personality in the ring. Even better he wrestles very convincingly as a smaller heavyweight. I think he would be solid in the IC Title picture.

Hardy counters a move at the end and hits the Swanton Bomb on Daivari for the win. Lance Cade then grabs the microphone and says he has something to tell Hardy. They say the Hardys were bad sports so Jeff hits a plancha over the top rope onto them. He then walks out and this Sunday it is the Hardys versus Cade and Murdoch. Isn’t Matt still on Smackdown? Why bother with the draft?

- Coach is in the back talking on the phone and saying that he had no idea how much Vince was responsible for. I think I know how this ends. With all the people saying how much Vince does and apologizing- in light of last week when they were kicking him- this has to end with it being found out that McMahon faked his death so people would realzie how important he is.

Coach then says he has a meeting with Sheik Productions. That turns out to be The Iron Sheik and he wants an interview segment on the show. Oh that should be great. Ron Simmons then comes in and yells, “Damn.”

- William Regal is in the back trying to hook up with Maria but Santino comes in and tries to introduce himself to Regal but he blows him off.

- Interview with McMahon’s limo driver who says it could’ve been him. With that goofy look he would’ve been better off probably.

- Umaga versus Mick Foley. If you had 30 seconds as to when this match gets taken to the floor- the under wins. Foley grabs a chair and hits Umaga in the head bending the chair but it does little damage. Umaga then beats up Foley with a chair and then hits his running splash onto Foley who is leaning up against the ring steps. It looked pretty cool.

- We go to the back as a limo pulls up.

- Mr. Kennedy is out and he gets a huge pop. He then turns the crowd on him by saying they were wrong for not respecting McMahon. He calls him a friend and dedicates the rest of his career to McMahon.

- Back to the limo and the driver gets out. It looks like Andy Richter- maybe networks are done giving him shows to do.

- Womens tag match time as we get Melina and Jillian Hall versus Mickie James and Candice Michelle. We also finally get a mention of the death of Sherri Martel this week.

Jillian’s gimmick is a good one and it is a basic heat generator.

It’s amazing how quickly Candice has improved over the past couple months. It’s probably not as much as Trish imrpoved over her time overall but she is probably further along at this point than Trish was. If she can get to Trish’s level the women’s division will be in good shape.

Mickie gets the hot tag and the hometown crowd gives her a decent spot after chanting “We Want Mickie” earlier. Some good tag work by the heels. Mickie gets the roll up for a 2 count. Melina then hits her split leg drop for a 3 count. Burying the hometown favorite is one of their staples.

- We are back and we go to video of the aftermath of the limo explosion. We then come back live and go to the limo that pulled up in the back.

- Main event time. Cena gets a really good response and minimal boos as he makes his entrance.

Cena and Lashley use power moves to get the advantage. When Cena tags in there is some more audible booing than at the beginning.

Orton is such a case of frustration. He has the persona and attitude to be a huge star in the business but he gets caught up doing all his stupid extra-curricular garbage and being completely unmotivated at times. He is so close to breaking out but just gets in his own way,

Heat segment on Cena as we come back from commercial with Booker and Orton working over the champ.

Towards the end Orton blind tags himself in and then hits the RKO on Lashley for the win. Cross Orton off the list of guy who will win at Vengenance.

- Back to the limo and Stephanie McMahon gets out of it.

- Now its time for Stephanie’s interview, as she is fake crying her way to the ring. She is out to thank the fans for their cards and letters. Ok this angle is getting closer to crossing that line between bad taste- and whatever the other side will be. She announces Raw will be 3 hours next week and they will honor Vince. She says he McMahon’s will seek vengenance on whoever did this then says, “I love you ” to the sky. The end.

You know- I’m a big picture guy so I don’t like to rush to judgment in the middle of a story of anything. However, this is getting real close to being an embarassingly bad storyline. It hits a little too close to real-life situations they have gone through over the years. Depending on where this story ends up going will be the deciding factor in whether this is a good storyline or not. However, they have a long way to go for this to have a good ending.

The in-ring stuff was ok and some of the guys new to the brand got good responses. Otherwise though too much focus on the extracurricular stuff.