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LOOKING AT A "HOW CAN THEY HAVE A THREE HOUR SHOW YET SO LITTLE WRESTLING" EDITION OF THE RAW HOMECOMING

Last night, WWE mixed things up with their "season premiere" of Raw, a three hour extravaganza that featured talent from all of the company's brands.  The main thrust of the evening was to set up next month's "Cyber Sunday" main event, where the three champions from each brand will face off in something of a dream match.  The secondary purpose of the program was to expose the viewers of the company's most watched show the workers from their two other brands, putting them in front of a larger audience than usually gets to see them.  To that end, the show delivered exactly as it was supposed to.

Overall, I thought it was a fun show and I enjoyed it, even if it did run a bit long at times.  It was nice to see the inter-promotional match-ups, as well the interaction between talents that don't normally work together.  The one thing that it hammered home to me is how exciting the shows can be when you add the factor of "unexpectedness" into the mix.  By the end of the night, we had seen a number of fresh things and that made the show much more enjoyable. 

There were only a couple of negatives.  One was that despite having three hours to work with, no match went anywhere close to long enough.  Given all of the time that they had, running short matches did cause the show to drag in parts.  They should have booked longer bouts to help the show flow better.  The other problem can be summed up in three letters, JBL.  I don't do Smackdown thoughts any more so I don't really talk much about him here, but the guy needs a serious crash course in doing color.  He spends so much time putting himself over that he hurts the talent in the process.  A color guy's role is to be entertaining and focus on the workers.  Instead, this guy focuses on himself and is often annoying in the process.  It's amazing to me what he gets away with. I guess if you are "friendly" with the right people, that will happen.  What makes matters worse is that his rap isn't entertaining.  Hearing "Tazz is a midget" 100 times isn't funny because it's not creative. Neither is "ECW ran in a Bingo Hall. And, since they are not ever going to work a program, there's no point in doing it anyway.  The guy really makes it hard for me to enjoy the shows at times.

The Matches: I thought Umaga vs. Kane was way better than I expected it would be.  They had a good big man match and given the stip of the loser having to leave the show, it had a good amount of drama to it. ... Big Show vs. Jeff Hardy was more competitive than expected.  Show won, but Hardy at least came across as competitive.  With that said, I don't get the point of them killing the IC division to keep Big Show strong (probably for Hulk Hogan at next year's Mania as well as next month's PPV).  I would have used someone other than Hardy in that spot. ... DX vs. Cade and Murdock was a solid brawl that was made better by the fact that the fans were into everything that the faces did. ... Man, Shelton Benjamin is buried.  He and Chris Benoit didn't have enough time to say it was good, bad or indifferent match.  All it really told me was that Shelton is buried. ... The Smackdown six man was a feel-good match to put over the babyfaces and expose them to the Raw fans.  It was fine for what it was. ... Torrie vs. Melina?  Well, the right girl won at least. ... I'd love to give you my opinion on the RVD vs. Booker match but the announcers argued so much throughout it, it just annoyed me.  It totally took away from the match, which was way to short anyway. ... Ric Flair vs. Mitch was cool for what it was, bringing out the legends and popping the long time fans. By this time though I was wondering how a show could go an extra hour and yet the matches still didn't get much time.  Wrestling isn't important I guess. ... The main event did nothing for me.  First, they gave away a match that people would pay to see in John Cena vs. Undertaker.  I didn't get that at all.  Throwing money out the window is just stupid.  Then, they have the Undertaker pretty much destroy the Raw brand champ.  To finish it off, they had the other champs run in for a screw job finish (albeit one that set up next month's PPV).  So, Undertaker is stronger than all the champs I guess.  Whatever.

The Angles: I liked the opening angle.  They did a good job of pushing the three champions from the different brands to set up next month's PPV.  Plus, they managed to push "The Marine" too.  It was a fun segment. ... Anyone who didn't see Kane creaming the Highlanders was simply watching TV with their eyes closed.  It was obvious he would lose and it was the right call.  He needs a new brand to work on. ... The DX skit was what it was.  I have seen better and seen worse from them.  Them doing the "Cocky" bit in the ring was along the same lines.  It was somewhat funny and it was somewhat repetitive, all at once. ... ... Edge did a great job with his promo.  I just feel bad for him that he is now paired with Randy Orton.  He deserves better. ... This wasn't an angle, but I really respected the way that Cena put over the Marines and being at Parris Island.  I like the way Cena shows respect to those outside the business. ... As I said earlier, I hated the angle that ended the main event. ... One last thing, once again they buried the tag team division.  Why they even have it is beyond me at this point, since no one there respects it. 

The Questions:

Isn't the new Raw song pretty good?

What did JBL tell his bosses in New York to get off on Monday this week?

As soon as Booker and Cena were ready to face off, didn't you just know that Big Show was on his way to the ring?

When JBL said, "Shut up midget" to Tazz, was anyone else hoping that Tazz would go over and stretch JBL's lame ass out?

Why is it that Paul Heyman wears his ECW badge around his neck while Teddy Long and The Coach don't wear anything similar?

So, wasn't the big question at the end of the Kane vs. Umaga match whether he would end up on ECW or Smackdown?

How did WWE get Steve Spurrier to come to Raw anyway?

What does it say about The Highlanders when they work on the same show as Kane does yet they still have to introduce themselves to him?

Wasn't HHH right on when ripped on the lack of the tag team division and the weakness of the Spirit Squad?

And, if they writers know how bad those guys are being used and they make a joke of it, what does it say about creative?

Hey, didn't Joey Styles QUIT Raw?

And since he did, what was he doing back on the show?

Did Show killing both Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro make you think that the IC Belt meant nothing or that the ECW Title was important?

Or was it a mixture of both?

Did you notice after the Show-Hardy match that Michael Cole promoted that later tonight "here on Smackdown"?

Did he forget what day it was and where he was sitting?

Will someone please tell Murdock to keep his shirt on when he wrestles....please?

Who could argue with Edge calling Grisham a "piss ant" anyway?

Could you believe that JBL waiting like 5 minutes to get that comeback about his mother in on Jim Ross?

Doesn't it show that the guy is more focused on himself than the talent?

And, wasn't it great the way Ross just totally no-sold him?

Who, exactly, dressed Vicky Guerrero anyway?

Doesn't the the shillelagh kind of go against the whole "Finlay's tough" deal?

Was anyone else happy that they just had Mae Young wave to the crowd instead of taking some big, insane bump?

Did anyone else pop when Melina blew off the fans by not doing her split-legged entrance?

Does Trinity wear that caution tape to move our eyes from one area to another?

Does anyone else want to kack when Jerry Lawler says "Go Daddy" every time Candace comes out?

Honestly, do any of the divas hold a candle to Kristal on the hotness scale?

Did you hear how quiet the crowd was when Torrie and Melina were wrestling?

When Tazz asked JBL why he doesn't get the talent over instead of himself, wasn't it one of the most pointed questions of the night?

Why would Vince be happy that Coach "booked" the Taker vs. Cena match on free TV when he could have sold it on PPV?

And when Vince acted as if Coach was the GM of Raw, did he forget that it was really his job, both in story lines and reality?

How cool was it to see the legends come to the ring, especially Arn Anderson in Flair Country?

Boy, did Mike Rotunda become "Mike Rotund" during his time away from wrestling or what?

And honestly, wasn't he the "one legend that didn't belong" in the group?

How desperate was it to hear the announcer say that Extreme Strip Poker on ECW was a "can't miss"?

How many of his female fans were heartbroken to see a wedding ring on Randy Orton's finger?

And, how many of them didn't care because they wouldn't let a little thing like marriage stop them from throwing themselves at the guy?

How was Edge going to take back his title against DX when they didn't have a title for him to take back?

How was Jim Ross supposed to, as Michael Cole asked, "remember the mood Undertaker was in last night" when it was a Smackdown PPV and JR wasn't there?

Were the fans right on to boo the run-in by the other champs at the end of the main event or what? 

By the end of the show, couldn't you tell that JBL really, REALLY likes to hear himself talk?

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