Reported by Martin Hawrysko of WrestleView.com
On Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at 9:09 AM EST

Yo yo yo, welcome to YES, another edition of Within Reason for the third day in a row! Today’s column is going to be an old fashion Raw review, which I normally would not do. Considering that I already wrote two columns this week, it’s not like I’m “taking it easy" with writing this one.

The show opened with Shawn Michael’s entrance and him walking down to the ring to a pretty good ovation. Michaels declares that he last week said no mortal man would keep him from achieving his dream. At the Royal Rumble, twenty-nine entrants were mortal, and then there was the Undertaker. Michaels then declared that he would somehow be the next WWE champion. I really liked how it was brought up right away that the Undertaker has a choice on which championship he can challenge for. However, was it really necessary to mention that the Undertaker may decide to challenge Lashley for the ECW title? I mean, come on!

Out comes John Cena stating that a WrestleMania match between him and HBK would be cool. Out came Edge to declare that he should be the one who challenges HBK. Anyone who didn’t expect Orton to come out obviously must have been asleep. Nice interaction between Orton and Edge though, especially because the company is finally booking that the WWE title really means something and it is something that everyone is after. McMahon goes on the Titantron to declare that Michaels and Cena will challenge Edge and Orton for the WWE Tag team titles. Of course Vince had to remind the audience he knows what the fans want and decides when they want it. Overall, an awesomely booked first segment which really opened the show on a great foot.

The Cryme Time skit backstage was really lame and I could have gone without it. Thankfully, the following match between them and the World’s Greatest Tag Team was a nice bout, and I was glad that Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas got the win. Cryme Time doesn’t really need to be undefeated and I really thought the World’s Greatest Tag Team needed that win. But what the heck did Haas to do this hair? Cornrows? Not a good look for him. I liked Lawler’s line about whichever Cryme Time individual was an honor student… “Yes, your Honor. No, your Honor."

In the back, Vince and Coach were talking about fan appreciation night. Oh, I’m sorry, I should have referred to it as Vince McMahon Fan Appreciation Night. There, I even put it in italics to make it official. All I thought during this segment was that I was really enjoying Raw so far, and how I did not want that upcoming segment to suck all the good out of the show.

Were Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler the only individuals who possibly could not understand that Melina was taking an opportunity to go for the Women’s championship? Well anyways, I honestly did not see this match since I stepped away from the TV for a few minutes. Wouldn’t be real fair of me to comment on it if I didn’t see it!

Great booking backstage with Edge talking to Cade and Murdoch. With Orton’s promo later on, it appeared they wanted to keep the audience guessing at which of the two might turn face later, by having them both praising their time together as a team. Notice the glare Cade and Murdoch gave Edge after he said nobody could stop them when they’re on the same page.

Val Venis vs. Umaga was next. Poor Venis. He actually is not a bad worker and probably deserves better than how he has been booked. But I’m sure he’s thankful that he wasn’t released a few weeks back. A typical squash match that basically just reminded fans that despite losing two matches to Cena, Umaga is still a dangerous badass who the normal man, can’t beat. Notice how JR tried to put Val Venis over.

Out came McMahon, and I actually liked how he and Umaga starred at each other. Seemed like there was some tension between them. Anyways, this segment really was torture until Donald Trump appeared on screen. I do have to say something. I’m not too interested in having Donald Trump appear on WWE programming, but I’m glad he finally did last night. I honestly wasn’t sure how much more I could take of this Vince McMahon stuff like last night, and now that Trump did appear, there is actually a story. Before last night, it was like Vince was running as fast as he could, but wasn’t going anywhere, because he was running on a treadmill the whole time. At least the story picked up last night and seems to be going somewhere. Not a great segment, but it was still cool to see real money floating throughout the arena and see McMahon’s lame reaction to it.

Next up was Chris Masters and Kenny Dykstra vs. Carlito and Super Crazy. Not a great match between the two, but I was glad to see Carlito get a much needed win last night. However, in the process, they continue to make Masters look like a total goof, and do I dare say how he isn’t too far from becoming the next Val Venis?

The Intercontinental title match between Great Khali and Jeff Hardy was what it was. Another squash match to make Khali look unstoppable. No one really cares, because if it is him who wrestles Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania, everyone knows Khali is going to lose. I’m not sure if it was JR or Lawler who said it, but it is likely there will be a rematch. It was bad enough that I was already thinking that on my own, but the last thing I wanted was for the WWE announce team to remind me of such things.

I’ve never seen Vladimir Kozolov work a match, so it’s probably unfair for me to say this, but I have no interest in seeing him wrestle whatsoever. That’s just me, and from the boos you hear everytime he speaks, I reckon none of you care either.

Interesting to see Ric Flair and John Cena talk backstage. Again, they are placing importance on the WWE championship and I like that.

The main event match was not as good as last week’s, but why would anyone expect it to be. It was a solid match that got the titles off Edge and Orton and onto Michaels and Cena. Michaels was going to attempt the super kick to Cena, but Cena noticed and HBK stopped. As Cena was reacting, the lights went out and off went the pyro, to setup possibly the best part of the show. The Undertaker rises and stared down at the champ, with Cena starring back in obvious fear and shock.

That last segment was booked perfectly and that’s exactly how I would have done it. Notice that the show ended without Undertaker speaking or coming down, which still leaves everything open as it has not been decided that Undertaker has decided to challenge Cena for the WWE title. I really wish JR and King would have stayed quiet and just let the scene speak for itself. I know why they had JR say that it appears Undertaker made his choice, because that’s what the company wants us to think. With typical WWE writing, if the Undertaker really had chosen Cena, JR would have asked, “Has the Undertaker made his decision? Does he want to fight Cena for the WWE title at WrestleMania!?!?"

Regardless, the Undertaker should still appear on Smackdown and we’ll see what happens next. It could be interesting if they book Batista getting upset or offended that Undertaker appeared on Raw, because he wants to defend the World Title against him at WrestleMania.

The ending to Raw was perfect as the fan really still is unsure who the Undertaker is going to wrestle at WrestleMania. I just hope the WWE doesn’t play stupid by having him appear on ECW tonight.

Overall, last night’s Raw was an excellent show. The previous two weeks were good shows, and the WWE gave us a good Raw for the third week. For that, I really give them their props. I hated the Vince McMahon segment in the ring, but I’m glad that the story at least is in motion. Most of last night’s show was booked well and for the most part, everything made sense. That’s how it’s supposed to be. I can take a little bad if the majority of the show is good or great. The WWE delivered last night!

Aimless Observations

-Will I be watching ECW tonight because of Vince McMahon’s appearance? No. How nice would it be if he came out and stated that ECW is cancelled and that tonight will be the final show? Hey, a man can dream now can’t he?

-Test vs. Lashley round three, tonight? Perhaps, Vince McMahon’s appearance by itself really will be the highlight of the show.

-Seriously, does anyone honestly think that the Undertaker will decide to challenge Lashley for the ECW title at WrestleMania? Anybody??


-I really have zero expectations for Wrestling Society X tonight. Adam Martin here at this site saw the preview the other night, and was trying to convince me that X-Pac (or whatever the hell they are calling him these days) actually didn’t wrestle a bad match. Yeah, sure Adam… Barring that I accidentally don’t forget about it, I will tune in and give it a try. I don’t have any expectations for tonight, but perhaps, that might not be such a bad thing.

-As a public service reminder, please remember that TNA Impact returns to its normal night and time, Thursday nights, 9p Eastern, only on Spike TV. Will Sting recover from the deathly fire ball he received last week in the face? Find out this week! Oh my!

In all seriousness, I haven’t really thought about TNA much recently. I received an e-mail last night with someone asking me for my predictions for Against All Odds. I wasn’t going to give the e-mailer my full predictions (as I would save those for an upcoming column), but I wanted to give him something. First of all, I had to go to the TNA website to find out just when that pay-per-view was taking place. Then I had to find a card, which I never found. All I saw was a banner promotion Christian’s NWA title defense against Kurt Angle, and I guessed that Sting will wrestle Abyss. My point? My point is that because the WWE has delivered a good product the last few weeks (minus ECW), TNA has totally fallen off my radar. I could imagine the same happening to other wrestling fans, in general. A few short weeks ago, I was the one saying Impact had the best wrestling show each week!

--Have a good week. See you next time, whenever that may be.

Questions or comments may be e-mailed to martinhwv@gmail.com.

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