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WWE Raw TV report



by Todd Martin

WWE Raw Report

By: Todd Martin
Email: MartinT2007@...

Date: 01/10/04 from Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

The Big News: Randy Orton beat Batista to become the number one
contender to
the world title. Yes, they are clearly setting Batista up to be a
top face,
since he has been pinned two nights in a row now. Also, Ultimate
Fighter
debuts next week after Raw. You should check it out. MMA did a
better job
providing what I love about pro wrestling in 2004 than pro wrestling
did.

Title Changes/Turns: None.

Match Results: Shelton Benjamin b Maven; Muhammad Hassan b Hurricane
Helms;
Edge b Rhyno; Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit b Christian & Tyson
Tomko;
Christy Hemme b Maria; Randy Orton b Dave Batista.

Show Analysis:

HHH came out with his belt and his Flair, announced as a ten-time
champion.
He did a semi-shoot, putting himself over in spite of what his
critics say.
He put over his bad book that didn't sell, the bad movie he had a
cameo in
that did mediocre business and his fake belt that he books himself
to win
over and over again as the signs of his greatness. Then he had Flair
put him
over. He put over Batista as the ultimate team player and a dominant
force.
Batista came out and hugged HHH.

Randy Orton interrupted. HHH mocked him as a loser, which is
essentially
what he is given he has lost about 80 matches since turning face.
Orton even
mentioned how HHH pinned him, but complained about Batista's role in
that.
He then noted that HHH didn't have Batista's back in the same match.
Orton
threatened to show the footage. HHH tried to stop him, but Batista
wanted to
see it and was angered by it. HHH said he didn't have the energy to
help out
Batista when he was pinned. Orton predicted HHH will eventually turn
on
Batista. He demanded an immediate rematch against HHH. Bischoff came
out and
said both Batista and Orton deserve a title shot. Thus he made a
number one
contender's match between the two.

They did a piece on their upcoming tour of Japan. Shelton Benjamin
beat
Maven to qualify for the Royal Rumble. I like the idea of Royal
Rumble
qualifying matches, assuming the losers don't get in as well, and
everyone
has to qualify. Benjamin went for the Stinger Splash early, but
missed.
Maven used a low blow and neck breaker for a near fall. Maven's heel
facials
were really good. Benjamin came back with the splash, but had the T-
Bone
countered. He was able to hit it seconds later for the quick pin.

Muhammad Hassan beat Hurricane very quickly with his finisher.
Hassan spoke
before the match but didn't really say anything. The negative
commentary by
the announcers was overbearing. Backstage, HHH said Batista has his
support,
that it would be an honor to defend against him, and that he
deserves a
title shot. Batista said eventually we all get what we deserve.

Edge beat Rhyno to qualify for the Royal Rumble. Rhyno had brief
offense
with a power slam and side suplex, but he ran into a boot going for
the gore
and Edge hit the spear. Edge used his Texas Cloverleaf type
submission
finisher for the victory. He went nuts after the match challenging
Michaels.
He called Michaels selfish and ran down all the times he was close
to
winning the world title.

Michaels finally came out, and said Edge is bitter. He said it is a
shame
Edge always complains about everything, and that he was once the
same way.
Some of the crowd chanted "you screwed Bret," which I'm sure wasn't
the
desired reaction. He called them Canadian, which pretty much shut
them up.
It was quite funny. He told Edge to quit complaining about the past
and to
look to the future. Edge acted humble but instead attacked Michaels
and they
brawled to the back. There is something lacking in this Edge
character, and
it needs to be tinkered with if they want him as a main eventer. A
switch in
ring attire would certainly be a start. Perhaps they could just lift
Christian's attire and music and give it to Edge. In any event, this
whole
scenario couldn't have been booked better, and it shows serious
potential as
a program.

Simon Dean ridiculed the crowd, and challenged a 300 pound freak who
wears a
mask. He meant Rosie, but got Kane. Kane was completely destroying
Dean and
went for the choke slam when Snitsky attacked him with a chair. Dean
ran
away from Snitsky. Snitsky then whipped Kane with Dean's belt. Flair
told
HHH he thinks Dave is on Orton's side, when he needs to be on their
side.
HHH told Flair to remind Batista that his record against Orton
hasn't been
good. Flair was incredulous as to whether this was the right
strategy, but
HHH said negative reinforcement was the way to go. This was pretty
funny.

Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit beat Christian and Tyson Tomko. The
bad guys
worked over Benoit, and after the tag to Jericho it broke into a
brawl.
Tomko accidentally gave the big boot to Christian. Jericho applied
the Walls
to Tomko, Benoit applied the crossface to Christian, and both men
tapped. I
really like the booking of Raw recently where they provide clean,
decisive
finishes. It makes elevation easier simply by match results, and it
also
gets over the talent being pushed. Backstage, Flair informed HHH
that his
motivational speech didn't work. It didn't fly. He didn't like it.
This was
hilarious. HHH said he was going to prove he supports Batista.

Hyperactive Spice beat the Interviewer Who Can't Complete a Sentence
in a
lingerie pillow fight. Another anonymous woman was the "special"
guest
referee. Lilian Garcia got into this as well. They jumped, bounced
around
and giggled. This segment took gender relations back about 50 years.
They
actually advertised this throughout the show, as if anyone would
care. They
did a piece for Chris Masters, as the Masterpiece. It is modeled
after the
Narcissus gimmick they gave Lex Luger in 1993, which didn't work
very well.

Randy Orton beat Batista. HHH and Flair watched the match from
ringside.
Orton and Batista traded blows, with Batista getting the better of
it. He
rammed Orton into the post, and shoved Orton's head into the post
with his
boot. HHH taunted Orton. Batista used a power slam for a near fall.
Batista
went for the sit down power bomb but Orton fought out and hit a DDT.
Orton
was pummeling Batista but Flair distracted him. Batista countered
the RKO
and was in control when HHH tried to give him a chair. Batista said
he
didn't need the chair, but Orton rammed Batista into it and got the
pin.

Final Thoughts:

It's time for my semi-annual rant about counterproductive booking.
Let me
start with the most important point, and one that many people don't
get:

Professional wrestling is 95 percent build and 5 percent delivery.

You can deliver a match that is just awful technically, and it will
be
remembered as legendary if it is built up well enough. Hulk Hogan
vs. Andre
the Giant at WrestleMania III is the prime example. You can book an
electric
lineup on paper, but if fans don't want to see it, they won't buy
it.
Canadian Stampede 1997 did weak PPV numbers for a fantastic show.
Likewise,
you can have a wrestler who has all the talent in the world. If they
aren't
protected and built well, they won't draw a dime. Brad Armstrong was
a great
wrestler, but he was slotted as a jobber for much of his career, and
that
was he was perceived. Chris Jericho is a great talent, but he has
been
buried too strongly and too long for him to ever attain the success
commensurate with his talent level. A turn can be brilliantly
executed, but
if fans aren't ready for it, it won't work. That was the situation
with the
Road Warriors in 1988.

Sometimes, I get e-mails saying I was too harsh on a show that was
entertaining, or too easy on a show that was boring. The thing is,
I'm not
viewing the shows as self-contained entertainment. I look at them as
pieces
of a puzzle, with the end goal being building future business, and
getting
fans ready to pay money to see certain matches. This past month and
a half,
Raw has had well produced television. But it seemed rather clear to
me that
they were just building to end up back at the same place they
started, which
is why I have been very hesitant with my praise. What they need to
be doing
is moving forward, and setting up a new superstar or superstars to
turn
around business.

WWE has always understood this, which is why they have had so much
success.
They have been the best promotion in the past 25 years as far as
marketing
and build. With this in mind, I cannot and do not believe the past
four
years have been a fluke. One by one, every star that has come along
and
showed potential has been cut off before they get to the stage where
they
can carry the promotion. Right now, WWE is in the process of cutting
off the
next guy in that treadmill, Batista.

WWE is not going to turn around until it provides fresh main events
that
people want to see. Smackdown has had trouble with the "want to see"
part
while Raw has struggled with "fresh main events." HHH as champion is
terribly, terribly stale. This has nothing to do with his talent
level. It
has to do with fans wanting to see something new after around 300
hundred
consecutive two-hour shows revolving around the same guy feuding
with an
interchangeable mix of impotent faces. Right now, the goal should be
setting
up whomever to be a viable new face to carry the promotion.

Orton was going to be the guy, but they turned him too quick, jobbed
him
out, and predictably the crowd gave up on him. Miraculously, they
got
another shot at the same angle with Batista. Now is when he needs to
be
protected, and instead he is booked the same way as Orton. This
isn't a
subtle trend. It happened with Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle and Rob
Van Dam
and Chris Benoit and Eugene and so many others. They are never going
to get
to the point where someone new can turn around business, because
they don't
build up to that point. This could very well be their intention, but
whether
this is due to incompetence or nepotism, it's equally deplorable.

You do not create a new face by jobbing him out. Fans need to
believe in the
face. The reason they got behind Batista in the first place was that
someone
else besides HHH was actually being booked strong. Look at what
Batista
seems like now. He was basically cleanly beat last night. He is
angry
because HHH didn't save him. HHH had no obligation to, and the whole
scenario should have been reversed. What kind of face turns because
their
heel buddy didn't save them when they were pinned?

They follow that up by pinning him again the next night, when he is
too
stupid to stay focused on the match and instead turns his back on
his
opponent to argue with his "buddy" that everyone knows he can't
trust. He is
beaten two straight nights by the guy who they already cut off the
same way,
and who gets tepid crowd reactions and has little physical
credibility next
to him. This should not be happening.

You can come up with excuses that sound good for this booking. They
need to
get heat on HHH. Batista needs a reason to be angry at him. They
need to get
Randy Orton over for his more immediate program with HHH. There was
a low
blow in the Elimination Chamber that made the pin less clean. Last
night it
was HHH who cost Batista the match. Everyone needs to do jobs. It
isn't a
big deal.

The problem is these are just excuses. There are ways to book your
next big
face without having them pinned repeatedly. Those are the scenarios
that
need to be used. Fans don't want to cheer for a loser. They don't
want to
pay to see a loser wrestle. They don't want to buy merchandise for a
loser.
There are precious few wrestlers in WWE who haven't been stigmatized
as
losers, and those are precisely the wrestlers who shouldn't be
getting
consistently pinned.

If anyone is wondering why the Orton turn didn't work very well,
look back
to August of 2004. If in August of 2005 anyone is wondering why the
Batista
turn didn't work very well, look back to January. The promotion's
success or
failure for 2005 is being determined right now, and if the last two
nights
are any indication, it is going to be another long year.