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The first Raw PPV of the year had blood and few circuses but all
in all wasn't a bad PPV in front of a fairly hot crowd. There were no title
changes and the feuds that went into the show will continue a bit longer after
the show.
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INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
(STEEL CAGE):
JEFF HARDY v JOHNNY NITRO
BO'S PREDICTION: This will be the 'Oh, My God' match of the show
with enough high spots to pop the audience. This feud has been pretty good since
the quo work well together and they have been given enough time to get their
matches over. You can expect Hardy to do a swanton off the top of the cage if
the office will let him to win the match. As was the case with Armageddon
anything that follows this match will pale in comparison. This match should be
the end of the feud since there isn't anything you can do to follow it. The
problem is-what do you do with Hardy and Nitro? One will get the belt and need
to match up against Carlito or Masters or whoever the company wants to push but
the other has to challenge for the main strap and I don't think the WWE has the
grapefruits to let talent determine who gets a title shot instead of politics.
BO'S REVIEW: The crowd was hot for Jeff Hardy at the start and that never
changed at all during the match. Hardy did a bunch of cool moves including a
dropkick from the top rope, a side Russian leg sweep from the top rope, a
swanton and an almost twist of fate from the top. Nitro showed us his athletic
moves and got the chance to do a combination power flip/power bomb from the top
that made the crowd ooh and ahh. Nitro also got his legs caught in the holes on
the top of the ring which hadn't been seen before. Melina tried to get involved
and whipped Hardy's hand with a belt as he tried to move around inside the ring
When Nitro got caught in the ring/cage again Melina leaned up against the ring
door so that the ref couldn't open the door but the match ended when Hardy
dropkicked the door and Nitro got crotched on the door so that Hardy could get
out of the ring for the win. The match was followed by a Todd Grisham interview
with Rated RKO for the match against DX later on in the show.
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TAG TEAM TURMOIL MATCH:
HIGHLANDERS (Rory/Robby) v WORLDS GREATEST TAG TEAM (Charlie Hass/Shelton
Benjamin) v "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan/Super Crazy v Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch v CRYME
TIME (Shad/JTG)
(Editor's Note: This match was
announced as a "Cryme Time" v "World's Greatest Tag Team Match", At air time it
became a "Tag Team Turmoil" Match. Bo's Prediction reflects the former
match which didn't happen)
BO'S PREDICTION: This match will probably be added to the card since
there are only six matches scheduled and you can only fill so much time. The
decision to put Benjamin and Haas back together came after someone remembered
they were a tag team. The duo match up well in contrast to Cryme Time
but can wrestle rings around them so expect a fast match that will likely end
with one of the team's cheating to win. You can push this feud for a while but
when the pre-WrestleMania hype starts then expect Hass & Benjamin to get the
belts from Edge and Randy Orton somehow but not beat them for the belts by
themselves.
BO'S REVIEW: Lillian Garcia came into the ring to announce this match as
a 'special bonus' match which meant that they knew the card was short and they
needed to add something. There was a plan for a simple match between Cryme Time
and the World's Greatest Tag Team but we instead got a match that gave the
winners a title shot with the champs at some point. We started out with the
Highlanders and WGTT (Haas and Benjamin) that had WGTT cheat but allow us to see
the Highlanders go through their moves. Benjamin won the match by pinning Rory
with a top rope move and that got the non-team of Crazy and Duggan out to
compete. Crazy has picked up a lot of weight since he isn't allowed to take the
diet supplements he was on before the wellness program started. Haas won the
match with a back suplex and that brought out Cade and Murdock. The two beat on
each other before Hass brought out his finisher the "Haas of Pain" but Cade did
a top rope leg drop to break the hold and get the win. Cryme Time was the last
team out and after they beat the hell out of JTG for a while Shad watched but
when finally got into the ring Cryme Time won with their combination
neckbreaker/Samoan Drop finisher. This gives them a title shot with Rated RKO at
some point before WrestleMania.
This was followed by a backstage bit with Vince and the Coach that had Vince
shake his head over the Donald Trump/Rosie O'Donnell feud. He promised that the
two would fight each other in the ring on Monday's Raw which means we will see
two look-a-likes go at it. Coach continued to suck up to Vince in the hall so
that Ron Simmons could say "Damn".
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RIC FLAIR v KENNY DYKSTRA
BO'S PREDICTION: This is a feud that allows Flair to make Kenny a
player and make people forget he was a member of the Spirit Squad. I would
expect Flair to carry the match while allowing Kenny to do some moves that show
off his flying moves. The deal here is that Kenny wants to be the new 'man' but
has to take the label off of Flair. WCW/NWA fans saw this with Sting years back
so it isn't new to older fans. Kenny will probably win but refuse to shake
Flair's hand again to show that he is a bad sport. This would be a good time to
bring former Squad member Johnny to cost Kenny a win so that Flair can move on
to something else but there isn't anything for Flair to do so expect this 'feud'
continue.
BO'S REVIEW: Kenny came out in a robe of his own. Flair took a fair
amount of punishment before he chop blocked Kenny twice to get him into the
figure four. Kenny got out of the move and he naturally cheated to get the win
by giving Flair a low blow in the corner and getting the pin since the ref
didn't see anything. This feud will continue so that Flair can make Kenny a big
deal as a solo.
The match was followed by seeing Nitro all bandaged up telling
Melina to call Joey Mercury in order to get revenge on the Hardy's. With Mercury
being on the shelf after getting a broken nose at Armageddon this isn't likely
to happen anytime soon. Victoria came up to Melina in the hallway and proposed
the duo teaming up to get the Woman's title.
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WOMAN'S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
VICTORIA v
MICKIE JAMES
BO'S PREDICTION: The return of the psycho version of Victoria has
gotten over well. Her coming out with a list on a clipboard and checking off her
goals was an inspired idea. It also helped when she accidentally fractured
Candice Michelle's jaw at the start of the angle. I would expect this match to
be 'bowling shoe ugly' unless Victoria carries the match. She is likely to win
with her 'widows peak' finisher but since the number of women wrestlers on Raw
is limited this feud will go on for a while. The first accidental injury victim
Beth Phoenix has been ready and working in Ohio Valley for a while so she could
come up and enter the mix but most of the women signed by the company are eye
candy don't expect much out of the women's division.
BO'S REVIEW: The match wasn't that bad and both got their moves
over. Melina came out to interfere and got slapped by Mickie for her trouble.
Maria and the returning Candice Michelle came out to get Melina out of the
picture while Mickie pinned Victoria with a DDT..
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DX (Triple H/Sean
Michaels) v RATED RKO (Edge/Randy
Orton):
BO'S PREDICTION: This
has been a great feud but we are reaching the end of the Earth with this. Since
HHH likes to work long matches this will be the longest on the card even without
the long DX entrance. I would expect some back and forth but technical isn't a
word that will even be mentioned in passing at any time during the match. You
can expect Shawn to take a fair amount of punishment in the match but make a
comeback that could have him get the pin. Since Stephanie McMahon is behind the
promotion of Tough Enough's Daniel Rodimer and he has been working with Team RKO
at house shows this could be the night that he makes his debut as their Diesel.
He has little experience in the ring but he looks the part and can be protected
working with the two of them. As I said, this feud has gone about as far as it
can so at some point DX will decide to go their separate ways peacefully while
Orton and Edge will break up and fight each other.
BO'S REVIEW: This was about the longest match on the
card and began with DX promising that we were seeing the sugar coated side of DX
but that wouldn't last. The match was for the tag titles which telegraphed the
conclusion big time. Orton was the first to bleed in a brutal match but when
Michaels was speared from the apron he took a belt shot from Orton to bleed even
worse. Michaels also did most of the in-ring stuff as predicted. HHH injured
himself giving Edge a spine buster when he got one of his legs caught delivering
the move. He gutted thru the rest of the match but you could see that he was
hurting. Shawn dived out of the ring to begin the finish by taking out Orton
then the ref before he and HHH beat the snot out of Rated RKO with chairs. Orton
bled even more but that wasn't the end. The tops of both announce tables were
taken off and Edge and Orton were laid out on separate tables. HHH pedigreed
Edge on the Raw table which didn't break but took Edge out. Shawn did the elbow
drop onto Orton and destroyed the Spanish announce table. DX strutted over the
prone bodies and their music came up telling the crowd that the match was over.
Medics came out to check them out and the wrap was taken off HHH's knee as the
duo wandered to the back and posed while the ring crew cleaned up after them.
So, no Rodimer debut and the feud is maybe done but who knows.
We follow this with Grisham interviewing Cena and allowing
him to be funny then serious setting up the main event.
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CARLITO v CHRIS MASTERS
BO'S PREDICTION: The WWE doesn't think that Carlito gives 100% all
the time and Masters had to go to rehab over painkiller issues. The company at
one point thought that Masters would be the future of the company but saw that
he isn't. It would have helped if Masters had been allowed to develop down at
Ohio Valley but as is the case most of the time the WWE jump started him and
then blamed him when he showed he wasn't ready. He has improved since coming
back and he does match up well with Carlito. I would expect little from this
match but it won't suck. The winner will get a push and go for the IC belt but
the loser will get into some kind of program leading into WrestleMania. The WWE
has signed Carlito's brother Eddie Colon to developmental so we will likely see
another brother against brother feud in the making.
BO'S REVIEW: This was a time filler match that saw Carlito on his
game and allowed to break out his flying moves. Masters won by grabbing the
tights then beat Carlito up after the match a few times. .
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WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH:
JOHN CENA v
UMAGA
BO'S PREDICTION: I really don't think the WWE is going to take the belt
off Cena especially with the Subway commercial running with him holding the
belt. So, then Umaga has to lose but his character loses something when he is no
longer undefeated. This seems to lead into a DQ of both men or just Umaga when
he does something like destroy the Spanish announce table or hit Cena with a
monitor. You could have Umaga win by destroying Cena and leaving him laying
bloody in the ring then lose the belt back to him on Raw the next night. That
would let JR sell the ending by screaming that Umaga is an animal who doesn't
deserve the belt then have Cena take him out Monday. If that happens then you
could have Cena come out and demand a rematch at the Royal Rumble in a no holds
barred match. It won't be a long main event in any case.
BO'S REVIEW: Cena came out and did a funny reaction to the fire
breathing dragon at the ring entrance as if he didn't know it was up there. If
you want an example of booking 101 watch this match. Umaga has been set up as
the unstoppable monster and Cena let him beat the crap out of him most of the
match. He took all the Umaga power moves and they teased that he wouldn't be
able to get him up for the FU even though we have seen he could pick up the Big
Show. He was set up for the flying ass finisher but stopped the move and won
with a simple roll up. We got a post match fit from Umaga but by then Cena was
up at the entrance holding up his belt. I would imagine a rematch is in order at
maybe the Rumble but Umaga would be better served in the Rumble itself if you
want to make him a major contender again. The match wasn't bad and actually
lasted longer than I would have expected.
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All in all, not a bad PPV. There seemed to have been a plan for
the show and the only blemish was a lack of a finish for the DX/Rated RKO match
that would have ended the feud once and for all. The quality of wrestling was
better than I would have expected in a few matches and no one walked away from
the show unhappy. |
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Photo ©
2007 WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment
Article © 2007 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
