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| Guest Columns | Miguelito Fierro |
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MIGUELITO'S RAW THOUGHTS June 10, 2002 For those of you who are wondering, the entire state of Colorado is NOT on fire. Don't believe what Governor Bill Owens said: he's a Republican, he can't help making mountains out of molehills. Or trying to revoke people's rights. It is what Republicans do. Most of Colorado is not on fire. It is very dry around here, true. There will probably be more fires as the summer goes on, too. But there are large areas of the state that are not burning as I type this. Consider this a Miguelito Public Service Announcement. Okay, now to the subject at hand. As you should know, I am Miguelito. Every week, I consider it an honor to let you loyal readers know what I thought about WWE's Raw. We've had a few crappy shows in a row now; let's hold out hope tonight's show breaks that streak. The Nature Boy is going to start out the fun this week. Flair looks rather natty in his suit. Everyone is expecting Flair to try to find a way out of being Austin's personal assistant. Flair admits that he should be Austin's assistant, but that Austin wasn't man enough to show up tonight. That was unexpected. Some familiar music starts up, and here is Mr. McMahon to try and ruin our evening tonight. Vince struts down to the ring, and then starts stalling. Vince says he is tired of Flair running Raw into the ground (I am fairly certain that Flair isn't the main voice on the booking committee, so obviously that isn't true, but let's let that go). Vince is doing his best to turn Flair face again. McMahon finishes by saying that, as an owner, Flair sucks. Flair grabs the mic, and asks what McMahon is going to do. Vince takes a shot at Stone Cold ("Unlike Austin, who didn't have the balls to show up here...") Hmmm... McMahon just challeneged Flair to a match for 100% ownership in the WWE. Is Vince already giving up on the Brand Extension? Wow, I didn't think things were THAT bad yet. Flair of course accepts the challenge, after first doing a couple of struts off the ropes. Flair promises that McMahon will pay the price of his life. Oh, I should note that this will be a no-holds barred match, which pretty much guarantees a screw-job ending. The fans are confused who they should be rooting for; I'm confused because that interview only went 10 minutes instead of 20. What show am I watching again? Back from commercial, and we go to the hall outside of the nWo lockerroom? Nash is reading a paper. RLS tries to walk in the door, but finds it locked. Kev says that Michaels needs some alone time; RLS and Kev share a chuckle. In comes the Show, who has to use the restroom. (God, we're already doing toilet humor? We aren't even 15 minutes into the show yet.) Show goes off to find a restroom. And here comes Booker T (to a POP!) T wants to know why the door is locked. Kev asks if Booker wants to read part of the paper, which apparently offends the Booka Man. Booker shoves off the paper, and says he needs to talk to Shawn about his music. Book notes that he KNOWS Booker is sexy, and doesn't need to put it in his entrance music to boost his ego. Booker wants to discuss this with Michaels. Booker re-writes Shawn's lyrics: "Book - Book - Book. I'm just a Booker T (booker t). I'm not your SUCKER (sucka)." Booker walks off, RLS and Kev share another Chuckle. Out to the ring, where we see Spike, Planet Stasiak and Tommy Dreamer. This'll test my theoriy: any time we see Tommy Dreamer, something sucky is going to happen. Their oppenents: RLS and the Show. Handicapped match? Oh, wait, Booker T gets his own entrance. I can dig that, Sucka! Here comes the FIVE TIME FIVE TIME FIVE TIME FIVE TIME FIVE TIME WCW CHAMPION!!! And I note that Booker is getting more and more of a crowd reaction every week. Some guy named Chris from a show that I don't watch is sitting in the front row. Oh, and Tommy has a bucket with him. I may just need to skip this segment again this week. That'd make three weeks in a row that I skipped a Dreamer segment. Only the WWE could make me want to NOT watch Tommy Dreamer. [sigh] Anyway, RLS gets the start against Spike. RLS catches a hurricarana attempt and powerbombs Spike. Cover, two count. Into the ropes, and RLS gets to kicking. Bronco Buster! (Already?) RLS celebrates, letting Spike get to his feet. Nice flying headscissors by Spike. Tag to Stasiak, who walks right into a spin kick. Tag to the Show, and Stasiak gets tossed around like a ragdoll. 45-minute suplex. And, for some reason, we get to see Nash and Shawn Michaels in the lockerroom? Nash closes the door on the lockerroom, though, effectively ending the shot. Wait, if Nash knew the cameraman was filming him and Michaels from across the hall, why DOESN'T Nash know when there is a cameraman in the same room with him? That didn't make much sense at all. I'm baffled. Back to the ring, and the fans in Atlanta disappoint me tremendously by popping for Dreamer's bucket. Oh, no, wait, maybe they were cheering Booker T, who tagged in at the same time. We can only hope! Dreamer fakes a puke, which makes Booker back away very quickly (Booker T is the smartest wrestler alive!) Dreamer tosses the contents of the bucket at Booker: Confetti? Oh dear lord, Dreamer is going to be the new Doink! It won't be long 'til he's wearing facepaint and a green wig. Just you watch and see! Anyway, Dreamer takes advantage of Book's confusion and nails a sweet little DDT for a two count. Stasiak tries to come in, but gets dumped rather rudely by Show. Show presses Spike over the top rope. Booker hits a Harlem sidekick on Dreamer for the pin. That was a pretty good squash. Booker asks for the nWo music to be stopped. Booker sucks up to the fans, and they give him some lovin' back. Booker again wants to give the people what they want: the Spinaroonie. Show encourages Booker, the nWo celebreates with him afterwards. This man is OVER, as he deserves to be. The more Booker T lovin' we see, the happier I am. Oh, crap, I forgot that I use that silly kudo system. Let's see... kudos for the opening interview being only 10 minutes. Kudo for the nWo interview, since we got some Booker T lovin' goin' on there. Kudo for the squash, and kudo for having RLS and Show applaud Booker's Spinaroonie. Minus a kudo for the toilet joke and for eluding in any way, shape or form to Dreamer's puke bucket. All in all, this has been a good show so far! Let's see if they can keep it up. The ghost of Tony Schiavone has apparently possessed Jerry Lawler (I know Schiavone's still alive, thankyouverymuch) as Lawler proclaims tonight "the biggest night in the history of this entire company." We know how well this type of thing worked for WCW. Coming up tonight, two King of the Ring qualifying matches: Guerrero -vs- RVD (tonight's show is going to ROCK) and Lesnar -vs- Bubba Ray. And here comes Booker T, walking down the hall celebrating his victory. He is met by Goldustin, who is in Eddie Griffin-Undercover Brother getup, replete with gold pipe. Booker, of course, wants Goldustin to tell him that he didn't just do that. Booker explains that he couldn't get Goldustin into the nWo. Goldustin says he wants Booker to leave the nWo. Booker says he is "over like rover" and wants to know why he should leave the nWo. Goldustin suggests that Michaels is a racist, but in a slightly cryptic way "isn't exactly a FAN of [makes the Booker hand, points to Book, points to himself] our kind." (Remember, Goldustin is being Undercover Brother here. He's trying to paint Michaels as a racist, I swear to you! >From one promo, we go to an interview. MOLLY! MOLLY! MOLLY! Terri (whose name has one or more "R"s in it, depending on how many my fingers decide to type at any given time) asks Molly if she has a personal vendetta against Trish. Molly says her major problem is with Teri, and Terri's centerfold in Raw magazine, and Teri's "Raw Sex" column for that same publication. Molly says that Terri is just like Trish; they both set a horrible example for women today. And here's Trish, sneaking up behind Teri. Stratus says that Molly's biggest problem is her "big ass". Ummm.... Molly suggests a WWE Woman's champion should be pure and honorable, like Molly. Trish agrees to a non-title match tonight. If Molly wins, she gets a title shot at KotR. If Molly loses, she has to wrestle in a thong (which Trish then models). You know, Molly's right. Trish IS kinda sleazy... Here we go to Flair's office, where we find 3/4's Horsemen! Guerrero and Benoit both want to know why Flair agreed to put his half of the company on the line without first consulting them. Flair said he was backed into a corner. Plus, Flair has been trying to make a deal with McMahon to get Benoit on Raw (it would've been nice if we had been told about this earlier, say three weeks ago?) for weeks. If Flair wins... Guerrero interrupts, correcting Nature Boy. "If? IF? *IF*!! No, no, no. When. WHEN you win, okay Ric?" Flair agrees, then suggests Guerrero get ready for RVD tonight. Flair then assures Benoit that he has nothing to worry about. "I hope so." Benoit rules. So does Guerrero for that point. My only question is: Why is Arn never around for these promo segments? Anderson is better than both Guerrero and Benoit on the mic, and may even be a better interview than Flair. Why haven't WWE taken advantage of this? Oh, wait, this is the same company that screwed up the aqcuisition of WCW, ECW and the return of the nWo. And is soon to screw up the return of Shawn Michaels. I should know better than to ask a question like that! We are back from commercial, and here comes Bradshaw with Dusty Rhodes straw hat and cowbell. Bradshaw is the new Hardcore champion, of course. But this match is for the European championship. And here comes the Euro champ, wearing the title belt around his waist (of course). Regal doesn't change at all, god bless him! (Yes, I mean to spell it with a lower-case letter. No, there isn't a special significance to this.) Referee pats down Regal, but comes up empty. Lockup, drop toehold by Regal. Hiptoss by Bradshaw. Tackle by Bradshaw. Elbow drop by Bradshaw gets a two count. Off the ropes, Regal with a kick to Bradshaw's head. Double-knee takes Bradshaw down (I love that move, too). European uppercuts in the corner take Bradshaw down. Bradshaw into the corner with a clothesline (timing was a little off there). Bradshaw tries again, but catches the Big Boot. Regal with his wrap-around neckbreaker (or "Takedown" if you are Jim Ross). Regal with an elbow off the ropes, but then gets caught by Bradshaw. Fall-Away Slam! Bradshaw with an elbow. Another clothesline into the corner. DDT by Bradshaw, kickout at 2 and a half by Regal. Big Boot. And here comes that Chris guy from that show I don't watch. Chris just slipped Regal the brass knux! POWER OF THE PUNCH! That's a pin for the champ, and Regal is the greatest European Champion in the history of the WWE! (Hey, if Lawler can make wild exaggerations, then so can Miguelito!) We take a peek at Trish walking out to ringside (they really need to have Molly jump Trish one of these nights to make these "she's on her way" segments at least moderately exciting. Hey, Bobby Heenan's going to be on Confidential! That's a Can't Miss; Heenan is one of the true greats. Seriously. That's not sarcasm; I love Bobby Heenan, and so should you. Here comes Trish, as our announcers both make my day and ruin it by first dropping the Virgin Molly Holly gimmick, but then adopting the Molly Has a Big Butt gimmick. Of course, Lawler is now going to run THIS into the ground. Ross isn't exactly helping, either. They do get a good joke in, though: Ross: King, are you an ass man? King: Well, I may be. Everywhere I go, people say "You're an ass, man!" (well, it made ME laugh.) Molly takes the title "Smartest Wrestler Alive" away from Booker T by hotshotting Trish across the top rope on her way into the ring. Molly walks right into a clothesline, then a dropkick. Trish tries for a roundkick, but Molly ducks, then takes Trish down by the hair. Molly slams Trish's head into the mat. SHUT UP LAWLER! Molly with a sweet handspring elbow. Trish ducks a clothesline and hits a neckbreaker, all in one fluid motion. VERY nice, for someone that sleazy, anyway. Trish goes for a Stratusfaction, but Molly holds her up and reverses into a belly-to-back suplex. Molly up to the top rope, MOLLY GO ROUND!!!! And MOLLY WINS! MOLLY WINS!! MOLLY WINS!!! Molly goes to her kneepad, she has Trish's panties (from last week's match). Molly is now choking Trish with said panties! Now THAT was entertaining. Molly walks out of the ring, but she is still yelling Trish's way. And she has a pinfall on the champ. MAJOR kudo! Back to ... I don't know, somewhere in the back, we see Vince McMahon grabbing a cup of coffee. And HERE is AA. Vince wants to know what's up, Arn suggests that Vince is making a huge mistake by wrestling Flair. McMahon gives Arn a hard push away, Arn says, "All right, Vince, let's get ready for YOUR early retirement." I think we can safely expect to see Arn interfering in the Flair/McMahon match tonight. Back from commercial, and here comes the Intercontinental Champ! RVD gets some lovin' from the Atlanta crowd, and I think it is safe to give this match a kudo BEFORE WE EVEN SEE IT! The fact of the matter is that RVD and Guerrero are the two best wrestlers on Raw right now. Putting them into a match against each other guarantees awesomeness. The winner, of course, advances in the KotR tournament. Here comes Latino Heat, and he doesn't look very happy about things at all. Here we go. Lockup, into the corner, Eddie tries to attack RVD but gets hiptossed. Center of the ring, Guerrero hiptosses RVD back, RVD rolls over into an arm bar, Guerrero rolls this over to a headscissors, RVD rolls THIS over to a pinning attempt for a two count, Guerrero rolls THIS over into a leg lock, and we get a break. Great chain wrestling! Guerrero back to working on the leg, into an STF! Break, RVD is favoring the leg and begrudgingly giving Guerrero some credit. Lockup, and Van Dam starts working on Guerrero's arms. Sidekick to the mouth! Both men back up, Eddie takes the advantage with some stiff rights. Off the ropes, BIG monkeyflip by RVD. Out of the ring we go. Guerrero tries to Irish Whip RVD into the apron, but RVD reverses (OUCH!). RVD with a bodyslam on the floor. RVD up to the apron, FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH TO THE FLOOR! But you can't win this match out here! RVD puts Eddie back into the ring, Nice float-over suplex for two. Eddie came out of the frogsplash favoring his leg; I hope that isn't a serious injury. Into the corner, RVD follows but catches an elbow. Guerrero Running Clothesline! And now Guerrero is unleashing some kicks of HIS own. Eddie punches RVD down in the corner, then feeds an "Eddie Sux!" chant. Off the ropes, RVD ducks a clothesline but then catches a back elbow. Guerrero still favoring that leg... Guerrero goes back to the arm. Classic wrestling spots here as RVD tries to escape, just to be pulled down by the hair. Lawler breaks out a Jesse Ventura-ism "It's only cheating if you get caught." This is pretty fantastic; Guerrero and RVD are basically doing a match that is 180 degrees different than their last two TV matches. Those two matches were high-flying spotfests; tonight's match is a classic mat-wrestling match. I am REALLY digging on this! Guerrero stomping RVD down. NICE belly-to-back suplex for two. Elbow to the back of the head. Powerslam by RVD! RVD up top, but gets crotched by Guerrero. Guerrero up to the top rope, SUPERPLEX FROM THE TOP ROPE!!! Both men down, referee puts on a count. Eddie crawls over, but RVD is getting back up. Into the ropes, Eddie tries for a crucifix, but Van Dam rolls throw it for a floating slam, then uses his own momentum to run up to the top rope and hit a moonsault. SWEET! RVD with a BIG monkeyflip out of the corner. RVD tries for the split-leg moonsault, but Guerrero rolls out of the way. RVD is on his knees, Eddie dropkicks him right in the face! Cover, two count. Off the ropes, RVD launches Eddie for a powerbomb, Eddie tries to roll out of this into a small package, RVD rolls through it and gets a two, another roll but the referee never stopped counting? HUH? RVD covers Eddie again, but the referee has already awared RVD the win. What the hell? I am thinking that that was just a major screw-up by the referee. Eddie stays in the ring arguing with the referee, who quickly heads out of the ring. Guerrero tries to attack RVD, but RVD hops over the ropes and out to the ring floor (what a wuss!). Guerrero stays in the ring, looking pissed about what just happened. You know, this could've been an intentional sloppy ending, which leads to more matches between Guerrero and RVD. Or, if this was a mistake, they can turn it into an angle featuring more matchups between these two. Either way, as long as we get RVD and Guerrero out there for 10 minutes or so, it'd be a good thing. Back to the back, and in rides the Undertaker. And a commercial! Back from commercial, we are back to the nWo's lockerroom. Coach tries to interview Michaels and Nash. Nash promises that Michaels will say what he has to say in the ring, then pats Coach lovingly on the cheek. Awwww... Out to the ring, and here comes the WWE Undisputed Champion. I'm guessing he'll have something to say about the Hardy Boyz. Undertaker again points out that he is the champ, he deserves to be treated with respect. Undertaker goes on to insult the Atlanta crowd (and really, don't they deserve to be insulted?). And now he wastes time talking about some dude who doesn't wrestle on this show. [yawn] Finally, we get back to talking about this show. Undertaker is rightfully ticked off about the way Jeff Hardy treated him last week. 'Taker asks if Jeff Hardy wants to do this the easy way (Hardy comes to the ring, gets slapped around like the little bitch he is), or the hard way ('Taker has to go back to the dressing room and find Jeff, Jeff suffers). Jeff, proving that he is a little bitch, doesn't show up. Instead, here comes Matt Hardy with a ladder. Hmmm... my money is on the Undertaker here. Hardy has a mic! Matt is pissed because Undertaker disrespected Matt last week. Undertaker invites Matt down to the ring for some more dissing, but before that can happen, Jeff tries to attack Undertaker from behind! Jeff off the top rope, but he gets caught and chokeslammed! Matt into the ring, takes down the champ with a clothesline! Into the ropes, Snakeyes by the Undertaker. Big Boot! Taker setting up Matt for the Last Ride, but Jeff rises from the dead just long enough to chop block the Taker. Matt with a butt bump to Taker's chest, and a few rights for the hell of it. Matt with some elbows, Jeff goes out and brings in the ladder! Ladder clothesline on the Undertaker. Again! Matt goes back to punching the Taker while Jeff sets up the ladder. Jeff up to the top rope, leapfrog OVER the ladder to a legdrop on the Undertaker. The Hardys are out of the ring and heading to the lockerroom. If they were smart, they'd be heading out of the country. They are going to have one Big angry Evil after them come next week! Undertaker finally back up, and he looks PISSED. MAJOR kudos for this segment; this ruled in too many ways to count! We are back... to the parking lot, apparently. Terri catches up with Regal and that Chris guy. Regal points out that Chris is a Harvard graduate. Regal has Chris start listing his accomplishments at Harvard when.. Jeff Hardy runs into the scene??? "Blank remains unfilled... Jeff Hardy." What the hell was that? That confused me, JR, Lawler, Regal AND Chris. Hmmm... Back to the inside of the building, here comes Bubba Dudley. And here comes Brock Lesnar. Bubba looks aside for some reason, allowing Brock to get in a cheap shot. HARD Irish whip into the corner. Brock chokes Dudley on the ropes. Another Irish whip, Bubba reverses and then follows up with a splash. Neckbreaker! (Or "shoulder tackle" if you are JR.) Bubba already tells himself to get the table. Heyman punches Dudley in the back of the head, then yells "Oh shit!" when Dudley looks back at him. Heyman jumps over the commentary table to get away from Dudley! Lesnar tries to attack, but Dudley sees him coming. Right, right by Lesnar, HOLY SHIT! Belly-to-belly overhead suplex ON THE FLOOR by Lesnar! That was AWESOME! Lesnar dumps back in, and we get a rightfully-deserved replay of the suplex. Bubba gets whipped into the corner. Bearhug by Lesnar. Bubba gets out of a suplex with a headbutt, but can't get out of a second. Lesnar stalking Dudley. Lesnar with ANOTHER belly-to-belly overhead, covers but just gets two. Into the corner, Brock tries to follow with a shoulder but Dudley moves. Dudley with a belly-to-back suplex! Both men slowly getting up. Dudley with a flapjack! Dudley with a combo, and a Dusty Rhodes elbow (which Lesnar no-sells). Dudley with another belly-to-back suplex. Dudley covers, two count. Into the corner, Lesnar runs into an elbow. Bubba up to the top rope, HOLY CRAP, Bubba's senton actually hit! Bubba covers, 1 - 2 - HEYMAN breaks up the count. Dudley goes after Heyman, chasing him around the ring. Back in, Bubba Spear! Bubba catches Heyman, but the distraction allows Lesnar to hit the inverse TKO. No one gets up from that move! Lesnar advances in the King of the Ring tournament, and that was another pretty damned entertaining match. Another Kudo! We are back. Well, not really, instead we get an Earlier Tonight. Let's just pretend we saw this less than two hours ago and skip over this part, what do you say? Back to "live" stuff, we have Heyman interrupting McMahon's preparations for the match tonight. Heyman tells Vince to forget about Steve Austin (who?) and start thinking about Brock Lesnar. Heyman suggests that, after McMahon wins the match tonight (did he just give away the ending), that Vince contact Paul Heyman. Heyman says he has a great idea for King of the Ring. Vince says he just may do that, and I think we can now count on Lesnar making an appearance during the main event tonight. Anyone else want to join the party? nWo lockerroom again. Hey, that door has gotten more television time than Steve Austin tonight! Nash opens up the door, here comes Mr. Michaels. JR promises we'll find out why Michaels chose to join the nWo. I can't wait! We are back from commercial. Ross and King are talking about some guy who doesn't wrestle on this show. I think his name is Stone or Pebble or something like that. There's the music, and here comes Shawn Michaels. Michaels points out that, in the time of garbage men and circus clowns, the only REAL thing in the WWF was Shawn Michaels. Michaels said that he gave everything, including his body, to the fans. Then came Wrestlemania XIV, where the WWF decided to go with Attitude instead of Michaels. Michaels says that he was Attitude in the WWF before Attitude was a catch phrase. Michaels says that Austin stole Michaels spotlight, but that Michaels isn't here to blame Austin. Instead, Michaels is blaming the fans. (Queue major boos from the crowd. I think Shawn just turned the fans against him.) Shawn said he is not here to wrestle; he'll never wrestle for the fans again. (More boos.) Michaels says that the fans killed HBK. Michaels says there was only one man who stood by Michaels through everything, and that man is... Kev. Speaking of whom, here comes Kev (and the rest of the nWo). Nash and Michaels share a couple of tender embraces. Awww... Michaels says that he is here to find what the problem with the nWo is. Michaels hints that it is the Show, but then says Show's height is what he loves about him. Michaels then hints that RLS is the problem. But that's just a swerve, too; Michaels says that RLS is "the most talented performer in our business today." And there's a hug for RLS. Awww... Michaels continues, "So I started to think to myself..." and then BLINDSIDES Booker T with the Sweet Chin Music! Holy crap, they just did a double-turn! The rest of the nWo laughs and celebrates. "I thought to myself, well, YOU'RE the problem!" Michaels says that Booker tried to steal the spotlight from the nWo just like Austin tried to steal it from Michaels, like Rock tried to steal it from Hunter (the hell? Those guys don't even wrestle on this show!). Nobody will ever steal the nWo's spotlight again. Show picks up Booker T, Nash and RLS rip the nWo shirt off of Booker's back. The nWo does the Wolfpack handtouch in the middle of the ring, and walks off. So Goldustin was correct! Michaels is a racist, and Booker's days in the nWo WERE numbered. Obviously, Booker T will be out for revenge on Monday night. Will he have Goludstin by his side? Or is Goldustin going to sacrifice Booker to get into the nWo? Michaels' interview tonight brought to mind two other great interviews from the past. One was a Jericho appearance in Canada when Jericho was still in WCW, the other was Jericho's first appearance on Raw. In both of those interviews, Jericho played up to the cheers the fans were giving him, and then expertly turned those cheers into loud, loud boos. Jericho is an expert at getting a crowd that wants to cheer him to hate him. Michaels' interview tonight followed that same formula. Lead the fans along for a while, but make sure you turn them all against you by the time you stop talking. Expertly done, Michaels! You get a kudo for your work tonight. We are back from commercial, and we are actually running into a problem with time. No matter, this match won't go very long. Especially since Vince McMahon makes his fastest ring entrance EVER. That's just about sprinting speed for Mr. McMahon. Here comes Flair, sans robe. Flair actually does run down to the ring. McMahon meets him at ringside, and the two are at it! Flair starts with chops. Into the guard rail. More chops. McMahon coming back with right hands. Both men over the guard rail. Into the crowd, Flair seems to have the advantage through all of this. Flair bodyslams McMahon out in the crowd! Flair stretching McMahon's face. Flair with a knife-edge chop! Flair finally tosses McMahon back over the guard rail, and we are back into the ring. Flair with more chops, but then walks into an eyepoke. McMahon with a bodyslam to slow Flair down. McMahon out of the ring, finds the ring bell. McMahon brings this into the ring and whacks Flair in the head. Hmmm... that must've been a devastating body slam by McMahon, because it incapacitated Flair for a good three minutes or so leading up to the bell shot. Flair's busted open! Outside the ring, McMahon is bouncing Flair off pretty much anything he can find. Flair on top of the commentary table, McMahon lays in some rights. Flair with a low blow, but McMahon shakes it off. McMahon chokes Flair with a cable! McMahon slams Flair's head into the ringpost, then into the ringsteps. McMahon tosses Flair into the ring. McMahon with a right, Flair Flop! McMahon takes Flair down with a right. Another right, Flair down again. Cover, two count. Flair pulls McMahon into the corner. Knife-edge chop. Again. AGAIN! Flair goes down to a clothesline, though. Another one (really wimpy looking) gets a two count. McMahon with a low blow! Cover, two count. McMahon decides to grab another weapon, this time a steel chair. Back in the ring, McMahon runs into both of Flair's boots. Flair has the chair! Chairshot to the back takes Vince down. Flair with a kick to the knee. Again! Into the corner, chops! McMahon down, Flair drapes McMahon's legs over the ropes and drops his butt on them. Arn Anderson has joined us at ringside! McMahon trying to get up, two low blows by Flair! FLAIR STRUT! Flair locks in the Figure Four! AA is in the ring, he is laying the verbal smackdown on McMahon. But wait, here's Brock Lesnar! AA wisely slips out of the ring. Lesnar drops an elbow on Flair! Lesnar with the inverse-TKO on Flair. McMahon covers, and he gets the three count. McMahon wins, and is once again 100% owner of WWE. Hmmm... that match didn't suck, but it was kind of disjointed. The WWE did a good job of foreshadowing who would be involved in the finish. Had Flair and McMahon had more time to flesh out the match, that could've been an awesome match. As it was, it wasn't good enough to get a kudo, but it didn't suck. The show ends with first Jerry Lawler jumping up and down to celebrate McMahon's victory, then with McMahon yelling "It's mine! It's all mine!" So... does that mean that WWE is giving up on the roster split? I mean, the "Brand Extension" didn't make a whole lot of sense when there were two owners of WWE. Now that there is only one owner, it would make even less sense. The WWE hasn't been doing angles that make a lot of sense lately, though, so I don't think we'll make much headway on this topic right now. The other big topic of the night: Stone Cold Steve Austin. I write this part of my Raw Thoughts late enough in the week to get some perspective. From where I sit, this sure sounds like a work. As CRZ has been wont to say, if it happens on TV, it's a work. The fact that WWE is going to talk about this "controverisal development" on Confidential almost guarantees that the Austin thing is a "work the smarks." That leaves the question: What's the outcome going to be? As long as the outcome doesn't include Vince Russo, I'll be optimistic about it. To sum things up: tonight's show ROCKED! There was almost nothing to complain about, we got some promising forward movement in most directions, we are promised that we'll be seeing Undertaker execute the Hardyz, Booker T and the nWo go to war, and a major shakeup in the power structure of Raw. Throw in a bunch of long, entertaining matches, and you have an excellent show. Hopefully, the WWE can follow up with something just as entertaining this coming Monday. And with that, I am out of here! I am off to see both CWO's Authority and the IWF's Father's Day Massacre this weekend. Live show reports will be forthcoming. - Miguelito [slash] wrestling Mail the Author Visit miguelito.fierro.com Comment about this article in Wienerville |
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