hi guys, this is my raw review for my first column for the nwa and was hoping u guys could give me a little feedback. thanx MetalBanger column: raw review 7-8-02 Hey guys, welcome to my first column. I’m MetalBanger in the nWa, and a number of other e-feds, and am the newly employed columnist with the right to write about pretty much everything. Mostly I’ll write about the wwe and wrestling in general, but will try to include topics about this great e-fed too. Well, since raw was tonight I decided to do a basic rundown of what happened with some quick thoughts about the matches, promos, and the show in general to give you an idea of what my opinions are about issues in the wwe. If you have any comments on feedback please feel free to send them to me or write them on either the nWa msg. boards or the ps2smackdown.com forum. Opening McMahon promo Lets start at the beginning with the highlights. How many times do we have to see the jeff/taker ladder match highlights. I watched the match last raw and the highlights again on heat, I didn’t need to see them again. McMahon saying Undertaker was off at first disappointed me because after really giving the undisputed title some credibility by defending it twice in one week, I thought they should try to keep up the momentum by having him defend it again. However, as the show continued I realized that having taker on it would have just screwed up this hour long storyline that was well built and had no place for the dead man in it. Booker T Calls Out nwo/ Guerrero match up Then booker t comes out. I’ve been a fan of bookers since he was in wcw and did the impossible of giving the wcw title some credit after russo, nash, and that actor david arquete had the title. He comes out and starts off by continuing his rivalry with the nowwhich is good that the wwe are at least giving the now some opponents now. Booker starts saying some “daddy advice” lines and I had no clue what he was saying then, he needs to speak a little slower. Unfortunatly his last advice line wasn’t “don’t hate the player, hate the game” which I loved in wcw. He ended it with a huge suckaaaaaaa though and guerro comes out. They both then fight and have some good moves and was short and sweet. I really didn’t understand what the wwe was doing here by making the match so short, but it made sense when they ended up wrestling in the main-event. Aftermath/ bookerdust segment. Benoit came out to help guerro after the match looking pumped up, then goldust comes to help out his partner. The dudleyz made an impact by coming out with chairs and chased away benoit and eddie. Overall all of what has happened so far helped the main event so much, I loved that the show had this constant storyline with a lot of mid-to main event people really building some feuds. Jackie and Trish interview. All I can say is that both Jackie and trish need to go take some acting classes. Neither of them convinced me that they had any rivalry or jealousy between them. Then chris nowinski, tough enough loser with a Harvard background we all no to be false comes up and does his horrible stuck-up impression. He needs to hang around regal some more to get the pompus ass gimmick down. I could see bradshaw being named trish’s partner from the second chris looked at trish’s hat, and knew this wasn’t going to be very good. Goldust as ben franklin Now goldust can act. This man has comedy coming out of his ears, his hilarious and yet psychotic impersonations with the gold make up on will have anyone laughing in the aisles and will help goldust get a push. I thought it was the perfect promo, it set up goldust and bookers help in bubba ray’s match, there teaming in the man event, and was just long enough to be funny but not boring. Benoit vs. bubba ray This was a good match; it had some incredible feats of strength and convincing moves by Dudley. The german suplex done by benoit looked amazing as he threw the heavyweight onto his back, benoit looks better than ever and deserved to be in the main event and be able to also show his technical side by putting the cross face on bubba ray. Afterwards the wwe continues to build up the main event by having booker and goldust come out. Wow, why can’t every raw have this kind of continuing storyline throughout it. Ric, jeff, and steven Another good promo, helping build on jeffs amazing ladder match by having the legend shake his hand. This is what flair should be doing, trying to help get over all these young guys with the fans while not spending to much time on tv. Steven Richards then challenges ric for some weird reason that I didn’t get. Although thinking about it now I guess having the ecw alumni on was a second, yes a second, storyline that continued throughout the night. Trish/Bradshaw vs. Jackie/Nowinski This match was terrible. Jackie blew way to many spots on this, including the stratusfaction bulldog from the top rope. Bradshaw should be in hardcore matches b/c he is the hardcore champ, and nowinski would have been better running interference in the jeff/regal match later on. All I can say is that while the women’s division is improving, matches like this take away credit for it. I will say though that both Jackie and trish looked hot in leather pants. NWO promo The only promo I wanted to hear before the night I found the most disappointing of the night. Last week Shawn Michaels had said that HHH is joining the nwo on raw next week. So the now comes out and we find out that triple H has until vengeance to make up his mind. Personally I don’t think triple h should join b/c the storyline has had way to many problems already to possibly ruin triple H standing by involving him with it. Also, if you haven’t figured out by now I’m, not a fan of big-man, little talent wrestlers like nash and big show, so when nash said he wanted to wrestler I though oh no. Then he makes this five way match, with people who have already wrestled tonight, which didn’t make much sense. Steven Richards vs. ric flair I barely paid any attention during this match, except I was really mad that steven looked all in pain. The wwe should be building up all the ecw guys as these insane men who ae able to take mick foley types of pain. And having steven kneel at one of flairs chops and then give in to the old man figure 4 was lame and disappointing for me. Ecw promo On the heels of steven Richards lame match, paul e dangerous comes out with his boy, “the next big thing” brock lesnar. I will say right now that I am a brock fan, but in my opinion is getting pushed to fast and should have to come up the ranks a bit like rvd has. Paul does a great promo on ecw about how he made money of its biggest superstars setting up the matches and interference for later on. I have never watched ecw, I didn’t get tnn until after they went of the air, but have been incredibly impressed with all of its talent after they debuted in wwe. Well ecw heart and soul, tommy d., comes out and heyman makes some great comments on dreamers current gimmick before tommy starts to give brock some pain. Rvd then comes out to make a full ecw reunion by doing an amazing van-daminator form side to side. I love rvd, I think he has so much style and ability, nobody else could have hit that move. Jeff vs. regal After a couple of decent moves by regal, jeff starts showing regal what faced paced and exciting wrestling is with a cross body, dropkicks, and the swanton bomb. I’m also a big jeff hardy fan and to finally take it off another old loser, regal, and give it to jeff was a great moment. And then to have regal cry for it was just hilarious. 10 man main event OK, as raw comes to an end I connect all the dotes, and see that there was an actual storyline that had led to all 10 of these men being in the main event. I thought it was a good match and all those participating who hadn’t had a match already sepent most of the time in the ring. X-pac looked great against both rvd and spike, with some well placed interference by hbk. Having shawn lead rvd to lesnar was great and will help build the feud between the two for vengeance. Nash looked ok, for about five seconds until he apparently blew out his knee forcing everyone else to just brawl in and out of the ring. All except that the show and match was really good and was one of the best raw’s since the split. By MetalBanger, aka wwfanatix