Falls Count Anywhere

07-12-07

Now Pino is pissed.

RAW
Gotta love it when companies panic and pretend to play it all cool by booking neat and clean. There’s nothing wrong with the way they’re booking things right now. In fact, I kinda wish they’d do it more often. I wish they’d set everything straight and make proper decisions and set up main events and undercard matches as well as they did this week.

True, there was nothing controversial about the show, no edgy angles that they believe lead to ratings, but there was a smart build to what they’ll be doing for The Great American Bash that I’ll be at LIVE in San Jose!

We opened with my man Bobby Lashley taking on King Booker. Booker didn’t get much offense in early, but he was in control towards the end. I think there was a miscue and Kennedy made it to the ring a little late because he interfered when Booker was in control of the match. It happens. Lashley looked good, but the crowd was quiet for much of the match. They had the heels beat on Lashley for a bit before Coach came out and said that Lashley would team with someone (since Cena was supposed to be Lashley’s partner, but was at Larry King) and take on Booker and Kennedy. Nice segment, but they need to get Lashley over more. Sadly, I don’t know who they’ll put him over to do that.

Coach and Regal did a backstage segment where Regal talked about his time as General Manager and then said that he approved of Coach’s work, though it lacked originality. Coach then made a match for Regal against Sandman. Nice segment which reminded me why I love Regal even when he’s not wrestling.

Umaga squashed Santino Marella. It was a squash only notable because Maria came out to support Sonny. Afterwards, they did a segment where Maria asked if he wanted to go out and he asked her to come with him because he shouldn’t be alone. It was a good touch for a somewhat wasted feud.

Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch are awesome. That’s for sure. They seldom get too much of a chance to prove it because they’re usually in storyline tag matches. They did another near squash over The Highlanders. The Highlanders are being wasted. The match wasn’t bad, actually, even for a squash. The High-Low ended the match. Cade and Murdoch are big deals waiting to happen. They just need a real push.

SuperCrazy was squashed by Snitsky. ‘nuff said.

They played teasers for HHH’s return, which is a good sign. I’m almost certain that he’ll take over at the top of the card. There are a lot of people who think that he should replace Cena as the champ, but I’m not one of them. Yeah, I know there’s a crowd that doesn’t like Cena, but he’s come a long way and is the most over guy in the arenas.

Dusty Rhodes came out and called Randy Orton to the ring. Orton challenged Rhodes to a match at The Great American Bash, coming live in two weeks from San Jose. He said that he wanted to humble him in the event he created. Now, I was hoping that this was setting up a War Games/Match Beyond, but it was the Bash he was referring to. Dusty said that he’d face Orton in a bullrope match, which is a good thing considering Dusty’s age and ability at the moment means that he needs a match where he can basically bleed and sell and that’s it.

Cody came to the ring and Dusty held him back. At one point, JHR called him Cody Runnels and then corrected himself to call him Cody Rhodes. Rhodes stood nose to nose with Orton and he was a good four or five inches shorter. He then slapped Orton. Nice segment that got OK reaction and built Cody a lot.

London beat Shelton in the continuing devaluation. They did a segment where Shelton said he’d kiss Haas on the lips if he lost. Of course, he lost to London, even after controlling much of the match. Shelton; quit and go to TNA NOW! There’s nothing left to stay for. He went back and Haas was gonna make Shelton kiss his hand, but instead he said he was joking and they hugged while Ron Simmons came out and delivered his ‘Damn!’ That was kinda funny.

Candice Michelle and Mickie James were supposed to face Melina and Jillian Hall. Melina said she had a sprained ankle and they had Beth Phoenix return and replace her. Beth looked really hot. I mean really really hot. I’ve always liked her.

Who do we choose?

The match was OK, Mickie got beat a little, the heels cheated and then Candice pinned Jillian with a backslide. That was basically it. Melina then came into the ring and the three of them beat on Candice. I really think Candice could be a marketable Woman’s Champ, but Melina is the future of the Divas if they’d just put her in the right position. Beth Phoenix looked freakin’ hot.

Regal beat Sandman via DQ. Carlito was at ringside. He interfered, Sandman caned him, then caned Regal to get DQed. Very simple and it might make from something interesting in the next couple of episodes of RAW, but not the PPV.

John Cena appeared on Larry King, so they taped an interview with him earlier and he said nothing about the King interview. The problem was he toed the line completely, but it doesn’t really mean anything because I’d have done the same thing. Jericho was also very kind to the WWE in his section of the interview.

Lashley ended up teaming with Jeff Hardy to take on Kennedy and Booker. The match was OK, and it was basically set up to make Lashley look invincible. And it kinda worked. The crowd was more appreciative of this than his other match. Gotta love the way they’re booking to make the Main Event of the Great American Bash (where Rosa and I will be LIVE in two weeks!) look good. I’m not thinking it’ll do a big number, but it’ll probably be a good show.

There’s not much new on the Benoit case that I’ve seen, but my Observer is delayed until today. There’s a lot of talk about what the next step is going to be. The toxicology is almost totally complete and the results will be out in the next few days. Linda McMahon will be on Bill O’Reilly, which a lot of folks are saying is a big mistake as he can shred a person and Linda might not be good enough to handle the pressure.

That’s all for this week. More on Monday.

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Chris Garcia