dr. rey: Dr. Wrestling:Raw Live

I attended Raw live this past week at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa and it was an interesting event to say the least. As I’ve said before in columns about attending events in Pittsburgh, specifically in the winter, there’s usually ice or snow and this event was no exception. My wrestling pals and I that went to the event left with plenty of time to spare to accommodate the traffic and the weather, which we would later find out was a good decision. Thanks to my pal, Johanson, who brought his GPS system, we avoided making any wrong turns and actually made it to the arena in good time but when we arrived there freezing rain started to fall on the wind shield. After paying $14...yes $14 dollars to park, we walked a short distance to the arena and once again, as in events in the past, there was only ONE gate that was going to be opened for the crowd to enter the building. Since we arrived in good time, we were able to get a decent spot in line but I still have to question the logic of having one gate opened to let the crowd enter the building when the arena actually has ten gates. Aside from that, as we waited outside for the doors to open, it was freezing and in hine sight I guess it’s a little ridiculous that thousands of people stood out in the cold as freezing rain fell on them just to see a wrestling show but hey, crazier stuff is going on with the economy so I guess standing outside when it’s fifth teen degrees for a wrestling show is okay. Almost everyone that was in line was cool so there wasn’t any major traffic jam or anything when the door finally opened. We found our seats and I was surprised that it was actually a really good view. We had something called “golden circle” seats and for some reason there was actually a table in front of us to put pop or food, which didn’t really matter because I wasn’t going to pay $4 for some pop or $6.75 for a slice of pizza..ha ha

The dark match was the returning Tyson Tomko v.s. Paul Burchill. I was really surprised that the crowd actually remembered Tomko and was even more surprised with how over he was with the crowd as there was “Tomko” chants throughout the match. The match itself though was very basic and nothing more than average at best. I recently read Tomko might have already asked for his release from the company, which could just be a rumor but after seeing his return match, I wouldn’t be surprise if he was released from the WWE. Don’t get me wrong here, Tomko has improved vastly during his time in Japan and TNA but upon returning to the WWE, he will have to adapt what he learned in Japan to the WWE style, which isn’t always an easy thing to do. Tomko might be more well suited in Japan or TNA but with an eventual reunion with Christian in the WWE possible, I think Tomko should at least wait to see what his options are in the WWE before asking for his release from the company.

Raw started with Kelly/Melina vs. Beth Phoenix/Jillian and it was good for what it was but the match was extremely short. Melina didn’t even get tagged in and I think by cutting the match so short, it took away from what could have been a great tag match. The Kane/Kelly storyline is intriguing depending on where it leads but how it continued to unfold through out the night really slowed down the pace of the live show. Next up was Rey Mysterio vs. Deuce, who is now known as Sim Snuka. It’s cool to see Snuka joining the second generation stable and I think he could become a star but seeing the start of this new name live was just dull. Maybe it’s because Sim hasn’t been established yet or because the match ended in a DQ but seriously, Rey vs. Sim Snuka doesn’t exactly sound like a major match. The match itself was good but the DQ ending really brought the match down, especially when a win over Rey could have helped start establishing the new Sim character.

The Orton/Batista interview segment set up the main event but to me, the segment showed how over John Cena is with the crowd. When he made the run in to save Batista, the entire crowd cheered. After a commercial, a backstage segment officially announces the main event and then Hacksaw Jim Duggan, who is really over with the crowd is in the ring. Chris Jericho walks to the ring in a suit and refuses to wrestle Hacksaw. Jericho leaves and as Hacksaw is leaving there’s another shot of Kane and Kelly before a commercial. After the commercial, there’s more Kane and Kelly. Now wait a minute here, before we discuss Raw any further, let’s review what we’ve seen so far. A very short diva tag match, Sim/Rey that ends in a DQ, Orton/Batista interview segment, a few different Kane/Kelly segments backstage, Chris Jericho refusing to wrestle, and some commercials. Okay, I get the point of the Jericho/Duggan segment but come on Vince, give Pittsburgh some action, not just segments, short matches, and commercials.

Thankfully, the next match was the match of the night as it was Punk/Kofi vs. Miz/Morison for the tag titles. This match had a lot of great back and fourth action that had the crowd really into the match with Miz and Morrison retaining the titles. After the tag match, JBL entered the arena and then the showed the ENTIRE video from HBK talking at Armageddon. JBL got major heat from the crowd but HBK didn’t make an appearance and the segment really slowed down the pace of the show. More Kelly segments backstage followed and then another commercial, which didn’t really help things. Next up, it was Dolph Ziggler vs. Santa Hass and it was an entertaining match. Hass was over with the crowd and worked well with Ziggler to have a good match that had the crowd chanting for Santa through out the match. A funny side note is when we were cheering for JBL, a soccer mom yelled “shut up if your not going to cheer for the right wrestler.” Ha Ha

The main event was a generic tag match and another DQ finish was lame. The dark match main event was Cena vs. Jericho in a street fight. The match went four minutes and Cena got the win. Overall, the show itself was very average with nothing really major happening at all but going to a live Raw was cool so I guess it was decent.

Until next week
That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It
Dr. Wrestling


Source: wrestling-edge.com