Raw, Smackdown, WWE 24/7, TNA Destination X Preview, and More

Welcome to the “when I saw Orton’s house open up Raw, I was thinking here comes Austin/Pillman 2 with hopefully a lot less controversy” edition of Raw. And it happened. Good segment and I’ll get into it momentarily. WWE is really hitting stride heading toward WrestleMania.

News for the week. WWE News: WWE announced tonight that a 25 woman battle royal would be taking place at WrestleMania 25. These 25 women will be stars from the past and current. This could be a lot of fun!! I’m really excited to see who they might bring back. Bring back Molly Holly!! WWE announced tonight on Raw that Koko B. Ware would be going into the 2009 Hall Of Fame. Remember when I joked in my live report of Raw from Nashville about how Ryan Braddock wrestled and I had no clue that he was still with the company? Well, now he isn’t. WWE released him last week. Other releases included The Boogeyman who had been recently appearing on ECW, Afa Sr. who had been working behind the scenes. One more release from WWE today. Wait for it. Kizarny. Anyone shocked? The Raw rating dropped to a 3.8 last week which fell from the 4.1 of the previous two weeks. Smackdown on February 27 did a 2.3 making it the highest number in My Network TV history. Last week’s ECW was a 1.4 which was up from recent weeks. JBL is going to be investing into Ohio Valley Wrestling. Remember that OVW is no longer tied to WWE as their developmental system is now in Florida. OVW has been hurting since WWE went to Florida. He is hoping to help it out. TNA News: TNA has apparently raised their consistent audience. I told of their 1.3 rating that was their highest rating yet. Well, they are hitting that 1.3 on a consistent basis now. Survivor Amazon winner, Jenna Morasca is apparently going to be wrestling for TNA. I liked her on Survivor and have actually met her in person.

One thing was for sure after watching last week’s Smackdown. Triple H has been officially physically provoked. Good segment to close the show where they had Triple H wrestling Umaga. As the match continued, Legacy jumped the rail from the crowd and surrounded Triple H in the ring. Dibiase and Rhodes went first to attack Triple H while he was able to fight the odds. Orton jumped in and nailed Triple H. From there, the beating was on. Legacy just pounded on Triple H for probably a good five minutes. Very cool shot to close the show where they had Triple H raising his hand up trying to fight Orton while Orton looked down trash talking him. Enjoyed the segment. Edge and Big Show’s contract signing got another player involved. Edge was still mad at Vickie over Show being the number one contender while Show said that Vickie wanted a strong champion. Show signed the contract and then Edge added that he wasn’t falling for the dominant champion stuff talking about how he himself had won titles all through his WWE career. Edge said that he would be happy to sign the contract but then John Cena’s music hit. Cena ran out and nailed a low kick on Show and then hit Edge. Cena followed with a belt to the head of Show knocking him out of the ring and threw the signing table at Edge. Cena then cornered Vickie and whispered something in her ear. Vickie looked concerned as Cena left the ring. She later told Edge that the contract signing would now take place on Raw. I was guessing that the storyline would be that Cena would get higher approval to make the match a triple threat. Money In The Bank Qualifying matches were held with a Hardy in each one. Matt lost his match to MVP. Jeff took on Shelton Benjamin. Jeff looked to be on his way to the win when Matt walked into the ring. He stared off with Jeff and then went to Shelton punching him. That caused the ref to DQ Jeff since he did attack his opponent. Matt cost his brother his chance of the MITB match at WrestleMania. They stared off again in the ring. Matt then turned his back to Jeff allowing him to hit him but Jeff didn’t go for it. Maryse defeated Eve as Michelle was at ringside on commentary. After the match, Melina hit the ring attacking Maryse for what occurred on Raw. Michelle then got in the ring and laid out Melina. Michelle finished Melina by sending her into the post. Undertaker did a really strong promo talking about how he never speaks of the WrestleMania streak. He said that night just happens to be when he shows his peers and everyone watching what he is made of. Taker talked of how people seem determined every year to make a name for themselves by trying to end the streak and it insulted him. He accepted Shawn’s challenge. A Shawn Michaels video package then aired interrupting Taker. Taker said that he was the wrong person to be playing mind games with and said Shawn’s fate would be the same as the other 16.

Other notes from Smackdown. Yeah, the Hardys in the MITB qualifying matches was predictable. When I heard about it, I thought Matt would lose and then cost Jeff his match too fueling the way to their showdown at WrestleMania. So, MVP and Shelton have been added to MITB. I really liked the promo by Undertaker. The build for that match is going to be so good. How cool was that camera shot of the beginning of Undertaker’s entrance to the ring where it just lowered through the lower level? I have to say that it was really strange hearing the fans booing Matt Hardy’s twist of fate tease. How about that big pop for Cena when his music hit?

Tonight’s Raw was a really fun one. They are doing some interesting stuff lately. Storylines have been better and some eye grabbing segments. When they came on the air showing Orton’s house and that he would be talking from there, it made me think of one thing. Austin/Pillman. I’m speaking of the controversial segment between the two of them that aired on Raw back in 96 and got USA and WWE a ton of phone calls. It went way too far. So, I figured tonight would be something similar and just knew that Triple H wasn’t going to be at Raw for his handicap match. Orton and his wife were live via satellite for much of the night from his home. Triple H was set to take on Priceless but he never showed. Priceless won by forfeit and then it was back to Orton at home. The doorbell rang and I thought here we go. Ha ha. Doorbell rang again and he asked his wife to get the door. He then did some rethinking on that a few seconds later telling her not to get the door. Next, we saw Triple H hammering the door open with the sledgehammer. Orton took off. Triple H roamed the house and did run into Orton’s wife at one point. He left her to herself. He kicked open doors and eventually got jumped by Orton who was hiding in a closet. Triple H then got back going and threw him into the wall a couple of times. Then, Triple H fired him out of the window into the front yard. The police arrived and arrested Triple H. Orton then got a shot in on Triple H as the cops had Triple H under custody. The last images we saw were of Orton being dragged inside the house and Triple H being in the police car. This was a really well done segment!! Speaking of good segments, the show opened with Shawn Michaels talking of how he was going to end the streak. Undertaker countered Shawn’s video from Smackdown with a video of his own showing the streak. The bell tolled at the end of it and the Undertaker stood behind him as Shawn finished watching the video. Shawn didn’t even turn and said “hello Undertaker” and then turned saying he had been expecting him. They both talked of how they respected each other but continued to trash talk about how this was all going to play out. Shawn said that he had never been out performed at WrestleMania and won’t be. Undertaker told Shawn that he had many epic wins at WM but bitter defeats and that Shawn would fall like all the others. As Undertaker went into his “rest in peace”, Shawn stopped him saying that he’ll rest great knowing that he did the impossible and ended the streak. He then added that Undertaker had never beaten him and never would. Shawn then walked out as they stared off down the ramp. What a segment that was!!! The contract signing for the World title match was fun as well. Vickie brought out Edge and Big Show. They agreed that they were the best two superstars in WWE today and were going to put on a great match despite what the fans wanted to see. They both signed the contract and then enter John Cena. This was odd how it started but it did turn out very funny. Cena mentioned how Vickie must not have told them the news. Vickie said it was fair to the audience to let Cena compete and he signed the contract. This didn’t go over well at all with Show and Edge. Cena then went into this whole thing about how the truth was that he loved Vickie and that she loved him back. He said the feelings were true cause she put him in the match. He went to walk off adding that he couldn’t help who he fell in love with. Edge stopped Cena as he was about to leave asking Vickie to tear up the contract. Cena said that she wouldn’t do it and told the truth which didn’t involve love. Well, love from a different point of view. Cena played the security camera footage from Raw which showed Vickie in her office. Edge was in the shower and Show walked in talking to Vickie. They talked of how things would be different after WrestleMania once Edge was out of the picture. Show asked for a quick kiss and they kissed with the camera catching it. They cut back to Cena who has a huge grin on his face with a shrug of the shoulders. Cut to all the three in the ring who have equally great looks on their faces. Edge’s face was great. Kofi Kingston defeated Chris Jericho in the Money In The Bank Qualifier. Jericho had Kofi in the walls when Flair’s music hit. Flair stood on the ramp which distracted Jericho. Kofi then nailed the spin kick for the win. Jericho later challenged Flair to come out of retirement next week on Raw. JBL defeated CM Punk to win the Intercontinental title. Yeah, that was annoying!! Punk went for the GTS but JBL raked him in the eye. So, with Punk unable to see, JBL hit him with the clothesline for the win. Rey Mysterio, Finlay, and Christian defeated the team of Kane, Miz, and Morrison when Rey pinned Morrison with the 619 and rana for the win. Divas champion, Maryse defeated Women’s champ, Melina following a slam out of the corner. The divas from both brands were at ringside supporting their own. Rosa tried to get to Maryse after the match and then both sides faced off. The fight was on and the faces all cleared the ring of the heels so both brands’ faces stood tall in the ring.

Other notes from Raw. Did anyone laugh out loud as much as I did when Triple H stood in the door way after breaking the door down? It looked like something out of a horror movie. Nicely done on that camera shot. Just who were all these random people in the house anyway??!! LOL. Anyone else thinking that Orton had failed horror movie 101 when we thought he had went upstairs? You never go upstairs. Orton learned and got the upperhand…..until he met that window. LOL. Yeah, I’m having fun with this segment cause I thought it was really well done. Good stuff. Wow, Shawn Michaels talking about how Undertaker has never beaten him brought back some memories. I still remember laughing back in 1997 as a Shawn fan cause Undertaker would always talk all kinds of trash but then Shawn would always win. Yeah, I had a lot of fun with my friends on that stuff. How great were the looks on everyone’s face after Cena ran that video? Great stuff. I was cracking up. Well done by everyone in that segment. The pat from Vickie to Show in the video cracked me up too. Grr, that footage of Warrior pinning Hogan still gets on my nerves all these years later. Put a lousy finish on that show for this Hulkamaniac. How funny was Big Show telling Vickie “who cares about what the audience wants, I’m the number one contender”? Koko’s HOF video was worth it just to hear Piledriver. Classic stuff. Next week’s main event will be Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker vs. Kozlov and JBL.

WWE 24/7 is going to be doubling up The Monday Night Wars programming starting next month. It has been announced that they will continue airing the Raw and Nitro shows from where they are in December 1997 but they are also going to start airing them again from the beginning. So, the Raw and Nitro shows from September 1995 will begin to air. They originally aired on 24/7 when the service started but very few people had it. This is a very good idea for subscribers that didn’t get WWE 24/7 until recently.

Someone want to hook me up with a PS3? Ha ha. I really am wanting to play that new Legends Of WrestleMania game. It looks like a lot of fun.

TNA is holding their Destination X PPV this Sunday and here is the lineup. TNA World Champion Sting defends against Kurt Angle. The return of The Ultimate X match. Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner. Beer Money defends the TNA tag team titles against Team 3D. Awesome Kong defends the Knockouts title against Sojo Bolt. And more.

To wrap up this week’s List. Want to see a fun clip? Here is a video of CM Punk, Mickie James, and Chris Jericho doing karaoke in Panama. Strong language at the end so be warned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8XWHRmu1K8

Wishing all of you a great week!! Take care and God bless!!