Monday Night RAW review - 05/05/08

The backlash from last week's episode was crazy, as many fans like me were not only angry when William Regal pulled the plug on the main event, but we were kinda confused too.

Anyways, the show opened up with Vincent Kennedy McMahon discussing the Regal controversy, and while it looked like he was going to reprimand Regal for his actions, McMahon then did a classic 180 and congratulated the RAW GM for his brilliance.

Regal then came out to the dismay of the crowd, and like last week, went over his whole "Respect me" schtick. He threatened to turn off the lights if the crowd didn't give him the respect he was due, and when the crowd responded with a "Regal sucks" chant, he kept his word and had the lights shut off momentarily. Regal then reiterated that he would be happy to do this at any time.

Mr. Kennedy's music went off and the crowd went crazy (hate to say I told you so). Kennedy challenged Regal yet again, and of course Regal passed on the offer. Regal then said it was a shame that Kennedy didn't know his place, and again made the point that he was Kennedy's superior. Kennedy said, "Prove it". Regal then said he would be putting Kennedy in a massive handicap match against the entire ECW roster in the main event to not only promote ECW's upcoming 100th episode, but basically also to teach Kennedy a lesson.

Triple H's music hit, and the crowd was even wilder than before. He started threatening Regal because he was angry when Regal pulled the plug on his match last week, and Regal responded by saying that Triple H would be paired with Kennedy in the handicap match for the main event.

More WWE programs need to start off just as it did tonight. Taking the crowd and viewers on a roller-coaster ride like this opening did is what the WWE is all about.

The women's lumberjack match was a snoozer. Mickie James was successful in her title defense against the "Glamazon" Beth Phoenix. At least the inevitable mid-match commercial break came on here and not during the main event, so that counts for something I guess.

Trish Stratus made a cameo backstage with Ron Simmons (who was just inducted into the college football hall of fame) and a singing Trevor Murdoch. Can't complain about the cameo as it had all the ingredients of a successful one: namely, Trish Stratus!

Randy Orton is later shown backstage, and is asked about his thoughts on Regal ending his title match with Triple H early. Orton responds to the interviewer (don't know his name) by saying he respected the decision. This cameo was more filler than anything.

Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels teamed up against The Miz and John Morrison for a solid tag-team match. The "controversy" surrounding Michaels potentially faking a knee injury (and Jericho calling him out on it) hasn't captured my attention, and it doesn't seem like the live crowds care one way or another. Good wrestlers, poorly-written storyline.

Randy Orton and CM Punk had an excellent match that was seemingly scheduled out of nowhere, but that doesn't matter because, just as the match was getting exciting, Regal walked out and ended the match by turning the lights off.

After a commercial break, Orton was once again asked backstage what his thoughts were on Regal. This time Orton was clearly angry, and said he would walk into Regal's office and demand to know what the hell was going on. The crowd actually gave him a big cheer for this (which means the writers, regarding the Regal storyline, have done a good job of putting it all togetherl... getting a cheer out of one heel when he's angry at another heel is probably one of the hardest things to do in the WWE... look at JBL vs. Cena's storyline if you think otherwise).

Carlito's Cabana made it's return to RAW, and Carlito's guest was the immortal Roddy Piper. Things heated up between the two, and it nearly escalated into a beat-down when Santino Morella joined Carlito, but luckily for Piper Cody Rhodes and Cryme Time came out and saved him. Carlito and Morella escaped, and then Cryme Time started chanting, "Rowdy, Rowdy... Yea Yea!" The crowd seemed to really get into the chant, and even my pessimistic self was entertained. Rhodes, Piper, and the duo Cryme Time all danced into the commercial break.


Coming back from the break, JBL had a match with a random wrestler I assume was called up from the minor leagues. JBL didn't let his opponent get in a single offensive move, and that was that. JBL then "sent a message" to John Cena by beating up his opponent some more after he pinned him. Regarding this rivalry, I don't know if I've ever seen a storyline so underdeveloped and boring. Cena and JBL haven't even been face-to-face since the last pay-per-view (I think), yet somehow these two have bad blood brewing between them heading into Judgment Day? WWE writers, you're better than this.

The main event looked like it was going to be a good one, as legend-in-the-making Mr. Kennedy and living legend Triple H had their work cut out for them against 14 other ECW wrestlers. Unfortunately the match didn't live up to its billing, as it was a rather short and decisive victory for the ECW roster. In fact, more action happened post-match, as the ECW roster ganged up on Triple H and started beating him up. Fortunately Triple H was able to get his hands on a chair and knock out most of those who were coming at him.

In the midst of Triple H handing out chair shots, the lights suddenly went out, and when they came back on Orton was in the ring stalking Triple H behind him. Orton RKO'd Triple H, and stood over him as the show went off the air.

Overall this edition of RAW was pretty good, a solid 8 out of 10 in my book. There were some segments that didn't do much for me nor the crowd (Diva's match, JBL's match), but that didn't stop the great segments from being, well, great.