I seem to have been in a minority of one who thought Backlash was an OK show, but that’s cool... different opinions make the world go round. I think everyone can agree that this week, the WWE seemed to have their heads screwed on with the TV shows - both Raw and Smackdown seemed to have a focus which has been lacking in recent weeks.
The focus on Raw was obviously Operation “Get Golbore Over” and for my money, it’s working. Putting him in Jericho’s new interview segment worked well - his admission that he wants to “earn his stripes” in the WWE seemed to go down well, and once Steven Richards had slid into the ring on his own (pretty funny moment as he realised he was alone, actually) you knew that The Spear was on the way... and the crowd popped.
Giving him a segment with Booker might not have been the way he was portrayed in WCW, but this isn’t WCW - he needs the endorsement of someone like Booker, who IS over with the fans... and it worked when Booker was getting attacked, as the fans (more or less the same fans who were chanting he sucked the night before) chanted for him to save the day... and of course, he didn’t disappoint.
The impressive show of strength in from Goldberg when he delivered the Jackhammer to Jamal was followed up by the cool spot of spearing Rosey through the ringside barrier. That could be the moment that puts Goldberg on the route to acceptance in the WWE - much like Austin’s speech at King Of The Ring 96 or his stunnering Vince McMahon. A big spot like that was needed to try and push Goldberg as an unstoppable force.
The rest of Raw was pretty entertaining too, it’s the most I’ve enjoyed a Raw in quite some time - even Kevin Nash ambling after Triple H at walking pace worked for me... amazing how Trips is willing to scrabble about the floor and look scared for a Clique buddy, but I’m not going there...
Austin’s return was highly anticipated by the crowd, but for me the highlight of the last 20 minutes of Raw was Bischoff’s antics with Trish and Linda. I’m glad that Austin is a partner, rather than a replacement for Bischoff, as Bisch has turned into the highlight of Raw.
It looks like Christian is going to be given a little push to try and fill the void left by The Rock. Christian has always been badly used by my reckoning, he’s charismatic, great on the mic and no slouch in the ring either - this is make or break time for him. Of course, there’s Chris Jericho circling between Main Event and Mid-Card that could be used as well, but he looks like the eventual target of Goldberg, the warm-up before Triple H.
Now, having enjoyed Raw, I thought that would mean Smackdown would be horrible, as both shows being good in one week just hasn’t happened often... but Smackdown was just as good, probably slightly better than Raw.
Highlight of Smackdown was the John Cena segment. Cena on the mic is good enough, but when he’s shown up by Brian Hebner as a human beatbox and Spanky (yes, SPANKY!) trying to be Flavour Flav then you know there’s good stuff going down. Spanky had the crowd firmly behind him, and “scratching” using Cena’s hair was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long long time on WWE programming. A Spanky-Cena feud wouldn’t be a horrible thing either...
Just as I thought at Backlash, Big Show is now a super evil nasty man. Can’t argue with how they’ve built him up in that way, no matter how worthless Show is in the ring these days. Brock defending Rey’s honour was a nice touch, but didn’t Lesnar beat the snot out of Rey at one point too? Brock smiles way too much these days though - it’s getting scary.
How can you not love Los Guerreros? Not only did they have a great match with Matt Hardy & Shannon Moore, but they also supplied the best line of the night when they told Team Angle that stealing is wrong... right before Chavo stole the gold medals from Kurt’s portrait... Chavo is rapidly developing into a slimy heel on Eddie’s level, and pairing the two together makes great TV.
Palumbo & Stamboli are starting to look like a good solid tag team. Palumbo seems to be cut out for tag team wrestling for whatever reason. Just a shame that Nunzio seems to be relegated to standing at ringside more and more... if the Benoit vs. Nunzio match from a couple of weeks back had been given some more time, they could have put on a great match, but Benoit & Rhyno vs. The FBI looks like it could be a good little feud, and elevate the FBI along the way.
Well, we all knew how the Mr. America gimmick was going to turn out, but thankfully, the WWE played it the right way - everyone knows who Mr. America is, and the only person who won’t admit it is Mr. A himself... Hogan was totally over the top, almost a bad impression of himself, and that’s what sold it to me. Piper and McMahon really excelled with their reactions to what was unfolding, showing that the older generation can still make a contribution.
Of course, it looks now like Mr. America will take on Piper’s prodigy Sean O’Haire at Judgment Day. If he does, then O’Haire should take the win, or at least be made to look like a legit. threat and lose to a screwjob of some sort. Having a win over Hogan on his record would still mean a lot, no matter how old Hogan is now - look what it did for Brock...
It was interesting to note that Steph booked Loss Guerreros vs. Team Angle for Judgment Day on Smackdown, and it more or less looks likely that Brock will face Big Show, and Sean O’Haire will take on Mr. America. Could the WWE actually have a plan for the next month of TV?
However it plays out, if they can keep up the standard of last week’s shows, then it can only be good for us. No matter who we think they should be pushing, or who we think shouldn’t be on TV - at the end of the day, all that matters is that we actually enjoy what the WWE put on TV for us to watch. Sure we can all pull for our favourites, but being entertained is just as important - and this week, the WWE entertained me. As Booker would say, it’s all good...
Until next time, have fun, go mad.
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