RAW
OK, I gotta admit, I watched a fair amount of RAW picture in picture while watching Celebrity Poker. It wasn’t a great show, but there were some very fun bits and some very strange choices.

Let me say this: the Musical Chairs segment might have been the weirdest piece of wrestling TV in years. It was an obvious situation they set up, but they did it pretty well and the segment didn’t go too too long.

At the start, when only Stacey and Lawler were walking around and then there was the beautiful pause before everyone dove for a chair, I thought that it was a smart little piece of work. It turned a little too normal, and the finish, with Jericho hitting Tomko with the chair, was obvious and well-done. Still, this was weird and though it perfectly fit in with the Eugene character, it might not have been the best choice. Chris Jericho got a huge response throughout the night, but more importantly got an IC title match for winning the game.

They seem to be doing a program where Rhyno is trying to win the Tag Team titles from La Resistance with any partner he can find. He chose Val Venis and the match was OK. Val is a good worker, but he is lost by the current booking patterns. He was ready for a real run back in 1998, but they held off too long. Nice ending, as Venis was going for a Fisherman’s Suplex (or a Curt Hennig Memorial Perfectplex) and La Resistance blocked it and turned it into the Au Revoir.

Can you do a chair shot in a bounce house?

Eugene was shown in his office: a MoonJump. I found this hilarious. He made a match with Batista against Kane and announced that it would be La Resistance taking on Flair and Eugene at the PPV this weekend.

HHH came out for an interview and all I can say is it was typical HHH. Edge came out and said that he was going to stop Evolution, and HHH said that a lot of people say they are gonna stop Evolution and nobody ever does. That’s true, mostly because the guy who could stop them is HHH’s father-in-law! Edge attacked HHH at the end of the segment, which was a nice touch.

Batista beat Kane by DQ in a match that I would describe as plodding. After a double clothesline, Matt Hardy came out and beat on Kane. It was a good beating, with Hardy ramming Kane’s head into the steel steps. Matt then did an interview backstage where it was revealed that the match at Vengeance will be No DQ. Matt came off good here.

They showed another Diva search, this time from LA. Honestly, though many of the reviewers out there are dead set against this, I’m betting that the quarter hour ratings will be strong for it. The LA edition featured even more silicone than ever before. A couple of former Playmate of the Year chicks were there, and a couple of girls I recognized from various other casting call shows.

Randy Orton and Chris Jericho had a match that was pretty damn good, except for the finish. The crowd was so hot for Y2J all night, and doing a title switch, even if only for a week, would have really given the crowd what they wanted. Jericho lost, but he put in a really good performance. Jericho brought back the cover with one foot where he does the flexing, which is a classic. He sold his shoulder like a madman. Jericho got the Walls on Randy and it looked like he was going to tap, but Batista got onto the apron, which led Jericho to going to attack him, which allowed Orton to get the schoolboy for the pin. This tossed a bucket of water on a roaring hot crowd.

HHH and Eugene were bouncing in Eugene’s office. HHH got Eugene to make a match between Eugene, HHH and Flair against Edge and Chris Benoit. It was funny to see HHH jumping in the Moonjump with Eugene. Eugene kept dropping the big elbow, which I used to do all the time in jump houses.

Woman’s match with a Title shot contract on a pole. It wasn’t good, as most of the matches where someone needs to climb a pole manage to suck. Nidia won, which was a surprise.

Trish and Lita had a nice little exchange backstage, talking about Lita’s little bundle of hatred or joy, depending on who they book as the father. Trish had a great line: “And they call me a slut.” I still don’t like this angle, but I gotta say that this was a good segment.

A battle for his very soul...

HHH got Eugene all mad backstage. Eugene made all sorts of angry faces. The HHH manipulating Eugene thing may turn Eugene full heel, which I don’t think is a positive.

Triple H, Ric Flair and Eugene beat Benoit and Edge in a match that went long, worked smart and entertainingly. The big thing was Eugene fighting HHH’s insistence that Eugene be bad. The ideal thing would have been for Eugene not to go down the road, but he ended up hitting Benoit with a chair. They better end this soon before Eugene is killed for all time.

I’d say it was a good episode that leads into a PPV well, but they aren’t going to do much business on the PPV.

NEWS
Winnipeg had a Chris Jericho day. When will the WWE realize that guys need to be listed as being from their real hometowns and then give the fans in those cities big wins for their favorites?

There is talk of Eddie Guerrero being quite unhappy with the state of affairs on SD! I wouldn’t argue, but the ratings are slowly starting to creep back, though they have been a little like a yo-yo at times.

I want you...to buy this book.

Flair’s book, Ric Flair: To Be the Man, goes on sale today. It’s a top seller (last I looked, #29) on Amazon. Should be the biggest wrestling book in ages.

Vengeance Thoughts
The show itself should be pretty good, though I doubt the buy-rate will be.

The Woman’s Title match is just about irrelevant. I think that Nidia won’t win the belt, but it’s not because of any other reason than Trish has been around and has paid her dues. Also, there’s no good reason to really push Nidia.

The Tag Team Title match should be interesting. If they want to have Flair turn on Eugene using the Barry Windham/Lex Luger method of 1988, then they have to give them the belts. If they are gonna do the attack on PPV, which would help get Eugene over as a face again, then they lose the belts and have La Resistance help in the beating, which gets them over even further as heels. My take is the latter.

Chris Jericho and Batista are fighting. I really think they should do a PPV strictly to knock down Evolution with some sort of 3 matches where if the Anti-Evolution forces win, Evolution has to break up or something. This will be a decent match, but I doubt it will be spectacular. Batista wins through some sort of cheat.

Kane vs. Matt Hardy No DQ. They will give Kane the win. The reason for the DQ id to allow Kane to perpetrate some sort of big bump violence on Matt. I’d say a Chokeslam off the top rope through a table or something of the like. Matt’s been hurtin’, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do an injury angle. Kane wins this, almost no question.

Randy Orton vs. Edge. This is the match that I am thinking will try and steal the show and I am fairly certain that it will go well, as these two are built to fight each other. My money is on Edge here. Why? Orton needs to be freed up to take on Benoit, and though they could have him go at Benoit with the IC belt, that would essentially take that belt out of circ. Edge should get the win, as the belt would actually help him out, and then Randy beats down Benoit after…

Benoit beats HHH. What?!?!?! I hear you screaming, but the truth is I think HHH realizes that Benoit is doing well, that turning the belt too often is hazardous and that they can build to a stronger event at SummerSlam. Now, since HHH isn’t taking off to make that movie, the odds are much better that he could get the belt, but the WWE has been very sensitive to internet reports and have changed bookings to throw them off (there are those who believe that it is the internet that is causing the slide in ratings and buy-rates). I think Benoit wins.