I don't really dislike turntable only music, but I just wasn't feelin' ol' RJ tonight. He played an acoustic love song as his encore, though, and it was very pretty.
The artist that came on right before was Diverse and that man is a talented rapster if ever there was one. He took it up a notch with classic audience participation moments such as "All right. Everybody say "Hip hop is here tonight!" and "To the beat y'all!" I really hope that kind of fresh gimmick takes off at shows around the country.
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RAW
WHAT WORKED?
I have watched enough Helmsley to know that the payoff for calling a Black guy an uppity Sambo who doesn't deserve to hold the belt is the black guy losing, getting buried, and then stuck with the Darkie Druid gimmick. So why did this work? Because it's the fifty-year anniversary of Brown v. Board, the Supreme Court decision that said that blacks are entitled to be educated but we still won't pay them as much. The Orton mic work was a nice tribute to a historical moment.
Beniot + Edge v. Orton + Batista was pretty fun, especially the finish, although Orton really isn't as good as Flair. Orton's conceptual body motion submissions really stink. The ref bump was really great, it looked like the Chioda broke his jaw. Benoit is also really crazy to take the headbutt on the belt on a meaningless tag match. Batista continues to be really fun to watch. Benoit, who's a guy who I've watched play face in peril in tags for a long time, is really good working on the apron.
Regal's acting is great, although he really is Rip Torn trying to save "Freddy Got Fingered".
WHAT DIDN'T WORK?
This whole show was paced really like it was booked by Vince Russo, as every single segment but the tag match was set up with same formula; long segment going nowhere killing time interrupted by surprise. Endless shitty Lita/Trish match... Kane surprise, meaningless Randy Orton promo... surprise its Benjamin, meaningless Kane/Venis match... surprise its Matt Hardy, endless Hardy beat down... surprise its Lita, endless Coach segment... surprise its the Rock, poorly paced battle royale... surprise its HBK. All the surprises make the others mean less, make the fans pay less attention to what's happening as they wait for the run in. I was kind of surprised that the tag didn't end with Orton saying "this script is bullshit".
Battle Royal was a Battle Royal, for what that's worth. Batista looked great and Benjamin gets pushed this week, which means he is fed to a returning Rodney Mack next week. The booking was really screwed up here; four heels combine to beat up everyone, until a suspended face eliminates main heel, with the payoff being that a separate heel wins?
BOTTOM LINE
RAW wasn't as good as it's been of late, but the hot tag team match really was quite enjoyable. I can't wait until Mark Henry gets back.
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