Behind The Angle #2: Three Random Letters

When the ECW relaunch was announced a mere two months ago there was much speculation regarding what the product would look like. The ECW hardcore and many traditionalists expected Extreme Championship Wrestling of the later half of the 90s, but from the word go it was obvious this wouldn't and even couldn't be the case.

The signings of a handful of ECW alumni such as everyone's favourite uncle Sandman, the dude whose gimmick it is to get stiffed with a steel chair Balls Mahoney and don't worry about him jobbing to Angle because it's only Justin Credible. Plus the out of retirement to do the job to Big Show Tommy Dreamer and the pulled from the depth of the Raw mid-card Rob Van Dam, have all given some legitamacy to the name 'ECW' but anybody expecting this to be ECW, well I told you from the start, you're wrong.

ECW died. ECW failed. For it's niche hardcore, fanatical audience it was the best thing going, it was the bee's knees, it was the holy grail. But for the millions of other of wrestling fans who were watching WWF and WCW the three letters synonomous with hardcore meant as much as Rey's world title reign.

Vince McMahon was made a hell of a lot of money from the ECW name. The Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, last year's One Night Stand and the various angles the ECW name has played a part of in the last decade has added to Vince's fortune. In doing so, he has been very clever, using the positives of the old ECW to boost his own empire. In relaunching the new ECW he has again been very clever. He has recognised that the old ECW died, therefore if the new version were to succeed things had to change. It had to appeal to a wider audience, it couldn't be as politically incorrect (because of the wider audience and the time of rebellion has passed) and it couldn't carry on where things left off five years ago.

So when we watch ECW, taped in front of a WWE Smackdown audience, we are not watching ECW from five years ago. We are watching an ECW whose goal is to sell pay-per-views in their thousands, an ECW whose job it is to stand along side Raw and Smackdown as a third brand of sports entertainment. That's why we're seeing Kurt Angle and Big Show as ECW's top stars, because they have that main stream appeal and name recognition. Throw Justin Credible in that position and you're heading towards a brick wall. That's why we've seen both John Cena and Edge on both ECW shows; they give WWE fans a reason to tune in on Tuesday nights as well as Monday nights. The Zomibe and Macho Libre may well disgust the fanatical fan but from people I've spoken to and the emails I've recieved, people love to see the Sandman beating the living shit out of them. It's booking to your strengths, and that's what they're doing.

If you're an ECW moaner then look at it like this; the new ECW could be called anything, it just happens to be called 'ECW' which ironically is the name of a promotion run by an evil genius from a bingo hall. This new ECW has nothing to do with the old ECW, the only thing it shares is it's name. At the end of the day, this is basically what the complaints are about. If this new brand wasn't called ECW, but three other random letters, I'm sure the mood would be very different and there would be nothing but praise for the new promotion. But throw three recognisable characters in there and the mood has been very much downbeat. Lighten up, you might even enjoy it.

ECW lover? ECW hater? Let me know what you think: paul@behindtheangle.com

PS. One thing I do know, Kelly sucks. Trust me. I know.

The ECW Championship?

ECW One Night Stand returns on Sunday evening and both of WWE's world championships will be on the line. ECW's own Rob Van Dam challenges John Cena and in a match announced on Frdiay Night Smackdown, Rey Mysterio will defend against ECW legend Sabu.

Paul Heyman was alluding to the fact that at least one of the belts will switch and a new 'ECW Champion' will be crowned. For that reason I don't think any titles will be changing hands, but contreversial decisions may lead to ECW recognising one of their men as world champion thus creating their title.

As I've said before this deal has gone through at super speed so there are no plans and nothing is set in stone. In reality, anything can happen!

ECW Draft Picks

Friday's Smackdown saw Paul Heyman make a mention on WWE TV regarding the return of ECW as a full time brand and on Raw, Heyman announced he was allowed two draft picks to take with him. From Raw it was Mr Monday Night himself RVD, and from Smackdown? Well the result was somewhat surprising. After Friday's Smackdown many beleived Matt Hardy would be heading to Heyman's new vision, but on Monday none other than Kurt Angle burst through the curtain and revealed himself as Heyman's Smackdown draft pick.

The pick has shocked many including myself and it'll be interesting to see how Angle is used over in ECW. If a feud does indeed take place between WWE and ECW, I wouldn't be surprised to see Angle as a WWE mole in the ECW camp. Only time will tell how things will turn out.

Thoughts on the return of ECW? Email me!

Relive the original ECW One Night Stand

Judgment Day Impresses

Smackdown's latest pay-per-view Judgment Day turned out to be a damn good show. This follows the trend of Smackdown and TNA pay-per-views this year; they're good shows but nobody's buying them due to poor build and poor booking. It's ironic really, because the booking of the show couldn't have been better. Every result was the right thing to do, nobody got too much time and even the Undertaker lost clean as a whistle!

Full Judgment Day Results:

Paul London & Brian Kendrick defeated MNM for the WWE Tag Team Titles

Jillian Hall defeated Melina

Chris Benoit defeated Fit Finlay

Booker T defeated Bobby Lashley to become King of the Ring 2006

Gregory Helms defeated Super crazy to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (of the world)

Great Khali defeated The Undertaker

Mark Henry defeated Kurt Angle via disqualification

Rey Mysterio defeated JBL to retain the World Haevyweight Championship

Judgment Day Lineup

Smackdown's Judgment Day takes place tonight and it could be a disaster or a decent show depending on what happens on the show. The lineup:

World Heavyweight Championship
Rey Mysterio vs JBL

Fit Finlay vs Chris Benoit

King of the Ring Final
Booker T vs Bobby Lashley

WWE Tag Team Championship
MNM vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick

Jillian Hall vs Melina

Undertaker vs Great Khali

Kurt Angle vs Mark Henry


Let me know what you think of the show by emailing me: paul@behindtheangle.com.

Behind The Angle Column #1: To Bury Champion, Belt and Audience

At the rumble I marked hard. At Wrestlemania I marked even harder but Smackdown has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth for the past few weeks. Of course I’m talking about the ultimate underdog Rey Mysterio. The Rey experiment (at this moment in time) has failed, ratings have dropped, Judgment Day will probably do less buys than No Way Out and the fastest growing market in America is tuning out on Friday nights. Why has this happened, and why shouldn’t it have happened?

As soon as Rey arrived in Stanford he was treated differently than every other cruiserweight. WWE is the land of the giant genetic freaks but there’s something about Rey which has allowed him to stand out from the rest of the cruiserweights. His instant push into the upper mid-card tearing it up with Benoit, Angle, Eddie and Edge in 2002 showed Rey was thought of as different by the bookers. They knew he had talent and wanted to exploit this. The topic of Rey being world champion is something which has come and gone over the last few years, but last summer, all of a sudden, it seemed a damn good idea.

It was a good idea because it was a simple idea. Rey Mysterio is possibly the easiest person to book for in the whole of the company. He’s smaller than virtually every guy in the company, he’s over as hell and the fans truly believe he can beat anybody and has been booked in a way that he looks like he can beat anybody. He is the ultimate underdog. Clichéd it may be, but it’s true and it works. Going into Wrestlemania the build was simple. You take a heel champion, for example Randy Orton. You take Rey Mysterio and book a match for the world title at Wrestlemania. You have Orton goad Rey all the way about the fact that he’s too small, had never performed at the highest level and most of all couldn’t beat him. You have Rey prove he is worthy of being there, nearly beating Orton in various tags but Orton always worming his way out of a loss. Then finally, at Wrestlemania one million people by a pay-per-view to finally see Rey win the belt, the roof comes off the place and everybody goes home happy.

It’s simple, but not every story has to be complex to be good. When WWE seemed to catch on to the idea this would work they booked Rey to go from number two in the royal rumble and go all the way to win the damn thing. The pop was huge, fans were excited, and finally Rey would get his chance to become world champion. A growing Latino audience would be delighted as would every single fan out there who bought Rey as a legitimate title contender.

Of course, it got fucked up. Rey only won the rumble because of help from beyond the grave. It was pushed upon us that Rey’s victory was total fluke. Rather than having Rey come out there and prove it wasn’t fluke and build him up further as number one contender, they had him, they had him, hold on. They had him virtually admit it!

After loosing his title shot to Orton at No Way Out the dream looked to be over for one Rey Mysterio. That was until booking decisions changed and Rey was put in the main event at Wrestlemania. So what angle did they use to get him in there? Did they build him up and make him look strong by beating a monster? Did they have him perform an impossible feat and get to the main event? Sadly no. The angle was Teddy Long felt sorry for him and put him in the main event. Rey was pushed as a charity case who got into the Wrestlemania main event through sympathy.

It seemed like sense was finally reached when they put the belt on Rey. His win got a good reaction and him as champion was something new. It was also something exciting. Everybody believes that Rey can beat anybody (OK Undertaker excluded), but they also believe anybody can beat Rey. Having a champion who can loose his belt at any given time can make for some very interesting television. The Smackdown off the back off Wrestlemania put him in a world title against Randy Orton. The theory worked as many people were questioning if WWE were going to do the switch here putting the belt on Orton. It later came out that Orton was going to be suspended so it made sense for him to put Rey over in a very good match. One thing should be made clear though. It wasn’t the main event. Oh no, the main event was the debut of The Great Khali (incidentally a seven foot three genetic freak). The confidence shown in Rey was seen from the word go.

The next week was even better when Rey was kept off television and actually worked a dark match! The new world champion, the new face of Smackdown, the guy to take the company to a whole new audience wrestled a dark match. Since that Rey has been destroyed on television. Admitting he was about to tap to Angle, Mark Henry not killing him only by request of JBL, The Great Khali eating him for breakfast and today is May 19th so work out who he’s going to be facing. Secondly guess what they result’s going to be.

Rey’s been buried beyond belief and has taken the belt with him. The fact is, Rey’s the easiest guy on the roster to book for. The Judgment Day build could be simple. JBL is bigger than Rey and believes Rey to be easy pickings. Rey proves otherwise and at the pay-per-view they have a fight. It’s not going to set the world on fire, but it keeps Rey and the belt strong. It might not add a million viewers, but you’re loyal fan base is continuing to watch and buy pay-per-views. Rey hasn’t been even been made to look like he can win on Sunday. He looks like a joke champion, Smackdown looks like a joke and nobody’s going to tune in on Sunday to potentially see Rey Mysterio have the shit kicked out of him.

I don’t know whose idea it was to book Rey this way. I don’t know if they thought it was a good idea or if they simply hate Rey. All I know is that they’ve taken a new, exciting and most importantly simple to book storyline and fucked it up. One of the basic rules of booking is play to your talent’s strengths. Rey’s strengths aren’t brawling, they aren’t promos and they aren’t getting beaten up every week. Rey’s strengths are good matches, crazy, innovative moves and being the ultimate underdog. If JBL wins the belt this Sunday, what’s he going to have done? He’ll have won a nothing belt from a nothing champion and we’ll have another tune out title reign from the self-proclaimed wrestling god. The sad thing is, it could have all been a completely different (simple) story.

Comments? Email me: paul@behindtheangle.com.

Finlay/Benoit added to Judgment Day

After their awesome match on Smackdown and now both men have been eliminated from the King of the Ring tournament, Chris Benoit and Fit Finaly have nothing to do. Thank God. Michael Cole announced in the press conference today that the powers that be have thrown them together in a match at Judgment Day on Sunday. I've got no problem with this at all and I'm sure we'll see another classic on an otherwise shambles of a pay-per-view.

Episode 13 is now up, use the link on the right hand side of the page to download it.

Tazz to ECW?

For those of you who watched Friday's Smackdown you may have noticed the (scripted) tension between Tazz and his 'broadcast colleague' Michael Cole. With Joey Styles already heading for the ECW announce booth, Paul Heyman and Tazz have been the two names banded about to be his right hand man. With Heyman in charge of booking it's likely he'll need to be hands on so Tazz is the next best candidate for the job. Hints were dropped on Friday and soon we could see the former human wrecking machine leave the Smackdown booth and become more extreme. Where this leaves the state of Smackdown's announce team in undertermined. Hold on, Coach isn't up to anything, or is he?

Regal/Benoit on Velocity

After Benoit and Finaly had an awesome match on Smackdown last week, Benoit's on Velocity this week but not to worry as he's going toe to toe with Regal. Be sure to check this out because as always it's great.

Click here to watch it online or if you to are 'geographically blocked' then you can watch in on Sky Sports 3 probably anytime as Velocity seems to be on about 453 times a week.

The latest podcast, episode 13, is up with all the news on the ECW return and Finlay's sidekick. Use the link on the right to download it.

Foley to turn?

Mick Foley will take on Edge in a Wrestlemania rematch on tonight's Raw. Their Wrestlemania match stole the show but tonight's match might not even take place once Raw hits the airwaves. It's been reported that Foley is all set to turn heel, potentially heading an invasion along with Joey Styles (who turned last week) and numerous other ECW lifers.

This could be a very interesting situation which should be hotting up over the next few weeks.

Remember to stay tuned to Behind The Angle for all the lastest news, views and information on ECW!

Raw Road Report

We set off at 5am for the plane and with no cars on the road Manchester was only fifteen minutes away. After checking in involving a bizarre experience with a stag party which contained roughly forty men dressed as various characters such as Scooby Doo, Buzz Lightyear, Sylvester, a Pink Lady (of Grease fame) everything went smoothly. A fine plane ride ensued and the luggage came off the carousel as soon as we stepped off the plane. There was a little wait until the final leg of the journey occurred on the train but a Jeremy Clarkson book ensured it flew by. The train journey couldn’t have gone smoother; fine connections and perfectly on time, everything was going swimmingly. It was a half mile from the station to the hotel and thanks to the huge landmark that is Wembley stadium it was no problem to find. Of course we arrived there far too early and couldn’t check in for another two and a half hours, or so I thought until they said we could check in right away!

So everything had gone perfectly, surely something else must be go wrong? The show’s cancelled? We’ve lost the tickets? Hunter’s water bottle hits me clean on the head on knocks me out? Well luckily nothing that extreme happened more a case of a disappearing Asda. I looked on the internet where the Asda website informed me that there was a store 0 miles from the hotel. From that I expected to step outside of my hotel and step into the store. Incorrect. So I decided to take a walk around the stadium. A bunch of people were hanging around all with wrestling t-shirts on, I got chatting to a few of them about who’d turned up and who they’d seen. I have to say this is the greatest part of the trip, the fan interaction. As a wrestling fan, I am totally a minority in fact I know nobody who watches wrestling (at least on a semi-regular basis) anymore so attending these shows and having the opportunity to interact with like-minded people is great.

It turned out that Big Show and Viscera had made an appearance in the canteen (no surprises there) and Joey Styles had also got himself some lunch. Talk of the hunger reminded me that I was in fact very hungry and as I could see the big Asda sign in the distance I headed off for my sandwich… until I nearly reaches ‘Asda’ and it turned out it wasn’t Asda at all it was some stupid green store (no clue what the name is). Turning to my left Asda was visible and this time I can guarantee it was Asda. Finding it was another matter; after heading towards it, the four green letters faded out of view. After half an hour of searching I finally found it and got my food. Why I am writing this? You want the wrestling don’t you? Yes.

It turned out that I missed seeing Flair and King enter but I got my sandwich so everybody’s happy. It came to Raw and although the actual TV show didn’t seem that good, from where I was standing it was awesome. This is my third event of been to and the atmosphere was never as good as this before the show started. Wooooos, Eddie chants and we want God chants, Cena sucks and Cena rules chants prevailed through the arena until Lillian made her way to ring. Some bloke behind me was in love with Lillian and he let it be known throughout the show, unfortunately she never acknowledged it once. She sang the national anthem greater than the England football team has ever sung it before and announced it was time for Heat.

Surprisingly, Big Show was out first to a huge pop (half because he’s Show, half because he was the first guy out). Show is over huge with kids, they love the guy, I suppose it’s the fact that he’s seven foot and looks like he’d kill anybody in sight, take note Vince tough guys work. He faced two jobbers, one of which was German so he got huge heat. The crowd were totally into this as Show took his time to dismantle them, finishing one of them off with a chokeslam where he nearly dropped one guy mid-air. This was a fine opening match that the crowd were into, really perking them up for the rest of the night. This is the way to open a show; an over face winning. Simple.

Lance Cade was the second named guy out of the evening to little reaction as he took on Eugene who was over huge. This was a basic comedy match including Eugene putting on Cade’s hat, hulking up and hitting the Rock bottom. Cade eventually won with the Sweet (I’m guessing that’s what it called as when he did it with Murdoch it was the Sweet and Sour and I presume he’s the sweet guy of the pair). Again another decent match for the live audience with the crowd totally into Eugene.

Goldust & Snitsky teamed for the next match against two jobbers. It was mainly built around comedy spots including Snitsky’s foot fetish where he tried to get his opponents shoe off. A portion of the crowd laughed, but I don’t think that many of them actually got it. Team Bizarre eventually won with some sweet looking German suplex by Snitsky. Sweet looking and Snitsky in the same sentence, there’s something you never thought you’d read. This was probably the match on the card the crowd were least into.

Murdoch versus Kane was the main event with Kane going over in no time with the chokeslam. The crowd were totally into Kane for the same reason they were into Big Show; he’s a well known ass kicker. It was interesting to see that Kane was still wrestling as a babyface here despite his turn on Show last week. The crowd chanted May 19^th at Kane but he gave no reaction to it at all. Another good squash to get the crowd ready for Raw which was next.

Coach came out to loads of heat, Styles came out to no reaction and any attempts at an ECW chant were ignored but Lawler got a huge reaction and plenty of Jerry chants. The Edge/Hunter/Cena saga was comedy gold. Hunter was damn funny with his ripping on Edge and this was apparent amongst the older members of the crowd. The crowd went mad for Hunter and his King of King’s music is awesome live. Plenty of bowing down to him and Triple H chants ensued. When Cena’s music hit the place went crazy; 75% hating him and 25% loving him. It was interesting to see that it wasn’t just kids who loved Cena, plenty of older teenagers and lads in their twenties were chanting for him. The segment went over well with the crowd all in all.

The six-man went over well with huge pops for RVD, Carlito and Shelton. RVD is over huge amongst everyone and there was a lad in the place in front of us who was on his feet all match chanting RVD doing the thumbs, he must have been knackered by the end of the match. Carlito got plenty of chants and Shelton got a good pop. I liked what they did with Carlito by not having him tag in straight away as he has history with RVD. A video or a segment would have been better here highlighting this rather than the Matt Striker heel heat that was attempted to be gained on the Unlimited segment that aired previous. The segments on the show didn’t seem to go over particularly well with the crowd who spent to it talking, can’t blame them really.

Maria did kiss cam which went down well and the two girls kissing got over huge. Fortunately this would not be the only time we’d see Maria that evening. Yay. Kane and Big Show made their Raw appearance in a backstage segment which got a good reaction and more May 19^th chants from the crowd. Most people were asking what the hell May 19^th was, I had no explanation except marketing.

Shane versus Shawn didn’t get a particularly good reaction during the match but got huge pops for Shawn and Vince’s entrances. The elbow through the table went over huge and Vince almost got booed out of the building by the live fans.

Umaga is pretty over. A section of the crowd were chanting his name but I was chanting we want Flair and when Flair finally made his appearance the crowd went wild. They didn’t really know what to chant or say, it was just excitement. The nature boy has still got it with the crowd totally into his chops and thousands of woos coming from all around.

The Trish/Mickie segment fell flat on its face after Trish did the interrupting thing. There was little noise from the crowd as nobody really seemed to care that much which is a shame because actually I like this storyline. They should have a fine match on Sunday.

The main event was awesome. Duelling chants including Fuck You Cena being busted out again and massive pops for Hunter lead to an awesome main event match. The Spirit Sqaud are awesome at just being the Spirit Squad and the crowd loved to hate them. After the cameras stopped rolling Cena got on the mic and commented on the number of DX fans in the house. He asked those who supported Triple H to make themselves known and it was damn loud. He then asked for the Chain Gang to let themselves be known and my god the roof nearly came off the place. The figures seem to flip round and when the heels were quiet the Chain Gang was so loud. Cena pushed the Backlash PPV (it’s free over here John) saying that it was going to be a moment in WWE history when a man comes down to the ring with a sledgehammer in his hand and leaves with a sledgehammer up his ass.

The crowd were awesome for this show, especially during the Cena segements as they totally ate it up. I love the atmosphere that’s created with the two sets of fans for and against the same guy, it makes the show so awesome. It may not have come off well on TV but as a live experience this was just great.

After the show I headed to the place where the wrestlers were leaving and there was quite a crowd there. Security were getting upset because people were looking (yes looking) over the barrier, they really were up their own arses (all but two who’ll I’ll talk about tomorrow). Through the window that looked over the car park I saw Flair and about a hundered backstage guys. This was a really good part of the night because there were a large number of kids outside and women who all loved Cena. As a person who loves to hate Cena I exploited this to the max. An ambulance came out and some kid asked his Dad who was in it; I responded with Cena saying he’s been attacked with a sledgehammer by Triple H. The boys face nearly fell off the end of the earth. I’m not that cruel so I told him I was joking by the way. Somebody drove past in the car with The Time Is Now playing at full blast, I started shouting turn it down and Cena sucks and I got a torrent of abuse from everybody there, but it was all good banter. Like I said before I think this is what is really good about these events.

Eventually RVD came out and gave his wristbands to a couple of fans. This is why RVD is over, he loves the fans so the fans love him. He’s the only guy who came out and I thought that was pretty cool. The coach went past at about midnight with everybody on it. The curtains were shut but Snitsky, Hunter and Victoria had left there’s open so we could see them. A chase ensued with 50 rabid wrestling fans were running after the coaches. We were hoping they were staying nearby but it turned out they weren’t as they sailed off into the night sky, well sailed off through the traffic lights so we lost them.

Overall this was a great experience. A really fun show, mainly due to the awesome atmosphere and meeting some cool people after the show. Shout outs to everybody I spoke to; sorry I tend not to do names (I can never remember them) including the Irish dude who’d traveled over, the guy who didn’t want RVD as champion and all the women and children that got annoyed with me.

I’ll be back with the Smackdown report on Saturday (because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone), don’t forget to download Friday’s podcast with this road report and a big Backlash preview and potentially a Lockdown review.

A Great Weekend in London

I'm back from my trip to London to watch Raw and Smackdown from the Wembley arena. The crowd was awesome both nights and I really hope that this comes across on TV. Raw airs tonight so make sure you check it out.

I'll be posting a full report including my meeting with RVD, Paul Burchill's mother, a run in with Booker T and Mark Henry's love child and bloke who looked like Austin, oh and all the news from the show themselves!

Part 1 should be up on Friday covering Raw and I'll put part 2 covering Smackdown up on Monday to aviod any potential spoilers. A full column will also be up in the next couple of days. In the meantime here's a few photos from the event:

Triple H makes his entrance for the main event on Raw.

Rey Mysterio arrives in London for his World Heavyweight Championship match.

Robson's Raw Thoughts 19th April 2006

Joey Styles welcomes us to Raw as we’re joined by none other than the chairman of the board Vincent K McMahon. Will Mr McMahon go to hell? That’s what he’s asking us; Vince hopes that he has offended us by last weeks church going actions. Vince claims he’s not going to hell, why? Because he ended up where he is now, somewhere in St Louis, cheap heat right there. Vince is now setting up his own religion; McMahonism! I want in! He is the “lord, master and god of all sports-entertainment”, you’re right there. We’re all followers because we buy tickets, nice to know. We’re treated to the McMahonism version of Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel and Vince at the last supper, aren’t religious undertones just great? No? “Boring! Boring!” - the crowd have got this right. Tonight we’re all allowed to convert to McMahonism, we can be disciples of McMahonism, but Shawn Michaels isn’t converting; until Backlash that is, when he falls at the feet of the boss. Vince asks to be struck down if he’s lying. Nothing. What about a sign? Nothing. The god of McMahonism promises victory and wham eat some sweet chin music Vinnie. Shawn back to the ring and gives Vince the DX crotch chop!

Nice little segment here, nice to see Shawn actually get something in on Vince after months of getting screwed. Vince doesn’t half love himself, but the Shawn attack was cool.

Triple H sees Vince backstage and tells Vince to lay off the god stuff, and books Edge and Cena against Hunter, I smell a swerve.

Rob Conway’s in the ring and he’s had enough if being a punching bag. The next person to disrespect him will be dealt with… boom! Kane’s makes is way to the ring and kicks the shit out of Conway. Unfortunately this week we can’t hear what Kane’s thinking, maybe that’ll come later in the evening. The announcers refer to the voices, could they hear them too? Chokelsam 1-2-3. Kane grabs Lillian, but here comes Show, I love Show in a tracksuit. Show gets the chokeslam this week and now two spots have been blown away for nothing. If you didn’t know, Kane’s film is out May 19^th.

We get a package of the Chavo quitting the business, wise move my friend, wise move. JR returns to Raw for the first time since he was ‘fired’ as he interviews Chavo. Chavo says his decision was done in haste, but he let Eddie and everyone down by loosing to Shelton Benjaman and he feels he has made the right decision. Chavo is a damn good interview and a damn fine worker, hopefully they’ll continue to use him. Chavo says it’s all he has ever wanted but he has let down his family. JR says Eddie would be disappointed in Chavo quitting, but Chavo still sees it as the right idea and his wrestling career has come to an end. I like this storyline, as long as they don’t do something stupid with the Eddie reference a la Smackdown.

We’re informed that Lillian has gone to the back after the trauma suffered thanks to Kane, so we’re treated to Coach as ring announcer, unfortunately he’ll be doing colour as well. Shelton’s out first for his match. If RVD wins, Shelton gets MITB shot at Backlash and if he looses he puts the IC belt on the line. His opponent is Charlie Hass! History folks and they’re referencing it! A few nice spots, with Hass flipping over the rope but Shelton making him land on his knee. Shelton focuses on the back whipping him into the steps and hitting a scoop slam on the floor. It’s chin lock time, man this annoys me, you’re working on the back, use a move which hurts the back! At least Hass looks a little different from when we last saw him and he’s no longer just a guy in tights. Crowd even starts chanting for Charlie! Shelton hits rolling thunder, totally mocking RVD, at least they’re doing something to further that feud, Shelton’s looking good in there as is Hass. The mocking continues as he goes for five star, but Shelton misses, Hass roles him up and 1-2-3! Hass wins! It’s Shelton vs RVD at Backlash for the IC Title. Shelton’s IC Champ by the way.

Vince is pissed backstage and Osama (I can’t spell nor remember hi name) and tells us he has convereted and he’s happy to donate Umaga and it will be Umaga going up against Shawn tonight. Shelton comes in begging for help and now he wants to convert, mainly so he doesn’t have to defend the title at the PPV. Vince says he likes people on his knees before him, therefore he’s going to help Shelton.

Umaga’s out first with Osama followed by HBK Shawn Michaels. They’re really pushing the religious part of the McMahon/Michaels feud and it doesn’t appeal to me at all. This is the top of the hour match by the way. One minute in and we’re joined by Vince at ringside as Umaga has control of Shawn on the outside. Vince takes a seat and a mic and sits at ringside. Shawn’s making Umaga look pretty damn good, put him the ring with anyone else and I think he’s going to suck. Shawn goes for the usual HBK comeback and hits two forearms to take Umaga down, flying elbow but Vince stops sweet chin music and Umaga manages to regain control, he begins to decimate Shawn and gets himself disqualified. Vince tells them to leave as he’s going to finish of Michaels himself. Vince ties HBK up in the ropes and grabs the chair he was sat on until god intervenes! God, in the form of a pyro from the ring post stops Vince entering the ring, then a huge one on the ramp. Don’t insult my intelligence Vince come on.

A video package is shown of Austin/Rock from April 1999. This does nothing except make you realise what’s missing from today’s product.

Matt Striker doesn’t agree as he’s out for his classroom segment. He says his students could tell him what happened on Raw, bet they couldn’t these days. He insults the St Louis crowd, calling them thick etc. “School is cool” is Striker’s new motto but it seems Carlito doesn’t agree and he knows what cool is. Striker has stolen Carlito’s apple and Carlito lets us know that he was more concerned with being cool than doing well at school. He once spat apple in his teacher’s face and became cool, he threatens to do the same to Striker but Striker says he’s going to beat down Carlito. Carlito spits anyway but Masters interrupts and hits the Masterlock on Carlito.

RVD’s out with his modified briefcase for a handicap match with the tag champs, everyone’s favourites the Spirit Squad. It’s five on one and if RVD looses he has to defend the MITB against Shelton at Backlash (as well as the IC Title being on the line). Johnny hits the leg drop and pins RVD after some initial fighting off by RVD. Thanks to Shelton’s conversion, it’s MITB vs IC Title at Backlash.

Maria interviews Trish (as Mickie) and she lets us know that Mickie (as Trish) has a surprise waiting for her in the ring.

Trish comes out (as Mickie) to Mickie’s music and invites Mickie (as Trish) for her present. This is bizarre but I like it. Mickie is freaked out and doesn’t want the present. Some dude is tied up and it’s Jack from the other week, you’ll be pleased to know he has now split up with Trish. Trish tells Mickie that if she was Trish she’d care about Jack, but if not she wouldn’t. I don’t get it, but Mickie does as she tells Trish to get her hands of Jack and attacks her, Trish comes back and leaves the ring. Mickie smacks Jack for cheating on her. This is whacky as hell. Poor poor Jack, he’s just an innocent bystander in all of this.

Edge and Lita are joined by Hunter backstage and Edge tells Hunter he’s getting pinned tonight (I doubt it), Hunter tells Edge that Cena is going to stab him in the back. Hunter tries to get Edge to hate Cena and get them fighting in their match later.

May 19^th continues to be pushed. Wow. See No Evil.

Backlash card is the triple threat, the holy tag match, RVD vs Shelton, Carlito vs Masters, Mickie vs Trish and Big Show vs Kane. Shaping up to be a nice PPV, it won’t be the greatest of all time, but there should be a few solid matches on there.

Main event time as Edge is out first with Lita. Hunter’s out second and Cena’s the last man out. Mixed reaction to Cena, despite King trying to tell us otherwise. Crowd mostly in Cena’s favour but there are a number of boos which are quite audible. Triple H hits the crotch chop, second of the evening, take note guys. Boos tend to be more audible now as Cena does his comeback but still 50% cheers. Yes, the crowd reaction is better than the match. Edge tags himself in and takes out his partner as Edge and Hunter go at it. Hunter gets all the offence in but Cena comes in and takes it to both guys. Boos become audible (as opposed to when the two heels were in the ring), ref bump and Hunter goes for sledgie. Takes it to Cena but Edge gets a spear and pins the game. Wow, didn’t see that coming at all. All three guys are actually looking strong going into this match and that’s something of a rarity.

Robson's Raw Thoughts

This weeks Raw has come under some criticism, but I for one really enjoyed the show. Of course what's been dubbed the Triple H Invitational began, and four OK matches came out of it. Kane/Masters was alright for a four minute match. I'm a huge mark for Masters and it was fun to see them tease their finishers on each other. The finish made Kane look retarded, but pretty much everything does.

Triple H/Flair was no where near the level of their previous encounters. Flair looked about 80 and was two steps behind Hunter all night. A poorly delivered pedigree and Trips advanced to the next round (surprise, surprise!). Show and Shawn wrestled next... no here's Vince. The Shelton switch was a good idea to continue the Vince/Shawn storyline and considering Shawn is off after Wrestlemania, this could be something of a goodbye to HBK. Show pinned Shelton with ease, but Mamma got scared and had a heart attack. I don't know where this is going, but Mamma can carry it off because she generally rules.

RVD and Carltio were up next and again, nothing amazing but nothing that went too long and made you loose interest. Carlito hit some crazy looking dive out of nowhere, but a Van Daminator and 5* later and Carlito's Wrestlemania main event chance was over.

Edge looked good in his promo tonight. Next week is Edge's last chance to prove himself as top heel, before he moves on to his Foley feud. I feel bad for him because now Hunter's going back on his throne his opportunties at the belt will be few and far between. Maybe a move to Smackdown maybe in order the R Rated Superstar. The main event, like the rest of the show was exactly what it should have been. Six minutes of bliss. It looks like Lita and Edge are going their seperate ways very soon, apparently Lita is keen to get back into the wrestling side of things. She does feel uncomfortable in her role, and she has worked well as Edge's sidekick, but leaving him won't do him any harm.

The Trish/Ashely/Mickie saga continued and Mickie got pinned, declared her love for Trish... as a friend and met Trish's rather plain date. If he could pull Trish, any man with a pulse has a chance. I can't wait for the Chick Kick to the head. This story is good, but the wrestling sure does suck.

Raw comes to us on Thursday next week, with a title match as its main event. There won't be a title change, but I'm expecting for Edge to have the belt won in a clean manner, only for Foley to be distracted (perhaps by Lita), allowing Cena to retain and setting up an Edge/Foley feud for Mania. I'm looking forward to this. Foley's always great on promo, and Edge can be good when he's been a cocky bastard. This has a lot of potential. I wouldn't expect anything great from next week, as Raw's not in its usual spot, there'll be an expected rating drop. Oh yeah, Triple H wins.

On a side note, the podcast starts next week!

A Right Royal Kurfuffle

Well, in the words of Little Britain's Lou, this last weeks Royal Rumble was somewhat of a 'right kerfuffle.

The opener, in which Kid Kash lost his Cruiserweight Title, was somwhat of a mess. The only positive, saw Gregory Helms pick up the belt, and a switch to Smackdown seems eminent for the superhero, which is a good thing. I'm hoping for a Noble/Helms feud over the belt, but as they weight less that 250 pounds, I'm not getting my hopes up.

For a good story, the women's matches over the last four months have been dreadful. Mickie/Ashley was no different. All I can say is, I can't wait for Trish to kick Mickie square in the head.

JBL/Boogeyman was exactly what it had to be. I'm not a fan of this wrestlecrap at all, but at least they're booking it properly. As soon as Boogey gets pinned he's a gonner, but why is JBL getting jobbed to this dude? He's a former WWE Champion and doesn't need this shit to deal with. If Boogey's not gone by Wrestlemania, I'll be a very sad man.

The rumble was up next, and I really enjoyed it. There were some cool things in there like the elimination of Kane and Show, Lashley's dominator to the Big Red Monster and Tatanka's return (!). Of course, Mysterio winning it was the best thing the company could have done, but it seems they're going to blow it by handing Orton the shot at Angle's belt in Chicago.

Edge/Cena was terrible. I presumed Cena was going over, but begged for Edge to hold onto the belt. It seems Vince wants to go with his original plans and have Cena hold the belt going into Wrestlemania, although a good proportion of the fan base would rather see him chasing it. It was a horrible match, with moves thrown together and then a Cena comeback. I can't work out why Cena's using the STFU. Why doesn't he just pin them after the FU? All it's done is further push Edge's credibility down.

When I thought things couldn't get any worse, the world's strongest man made his way to the ring, and single handedly pulled a boring match out of Kurt Angle. Yes, 'boring' and 'Angle' in the same sentence. Henry showed that he's good at being a brick wall against Rey, but against no one else. At least the result went the right way by having Angle retain.

Then Mean Mark came down, signalled for the belt, did some crazy shit and made the ring collapse. Marvellous.

Sorry for being so negative today. I was hoping to not be negative in doing this podcast, but today has not been a good week to start.

Stay tuned for the first episode of the podcast coming very soon!