Just John

I'm gonna flip the fuck out if the McMahon/Michaels program continues after what should've been the 3rd blowoff match.

This was a pretty decent show, minus the finishes to 4 of the matches. Hardy/Nitro was solid. Good leg work by Nitro, bad finish. Umaga/Kane was better than expected. Kane looked more fired up than he has in years. Again, stupid finish. Tag match was pretty dull. Why does the SS still have the belts? HIAC was exactly what I thought it'd be, minus DX winning. Decent enough for like the 3rd blow off match. Please let this feud end. Trish/Lita was more emotional than good. Trish/Mickie at Mania was way better, but this one had a better atmosphere. Great finish too. Orton/Carlito didn't go the way I wanted it to. I liked Carlito's Hayabusa spot and the finish, but the rest of the match dragged. TLC was good. Cena was the man and stepped up on the big stage yet again. Both guys did some good spots and there was only one really obvious botch, which got covered. Even though Cena put on a great showing, I don't like him getting the title. I thought going to SD would freshen him up, and Edge had more good potential programs left as champ.

It's too bad this show is getting overlooked because it actually looks decent on paper. Overbooked to the extreme, sure, but it shouldn't be too bad overall. Now, for predictions: Edge vs. Cena (WWE title, TLC, Cena goes to SD if he loses): One of two overkill gimmick matches on the show, but this one has potential to be pretty good. The crowd will be way into it and both guys are capable of doing some good spots. The Edge/Flair TLC was way better than it should've been, and Cena is more versatile in the ring than Flair right now, even if he doesn't often get to show it. I think he'll bring it here, as Cena's at his best when crowds hate him. As far as the winner goes, I'm going against the recent report, and say that Edge wins. Over the last couple of weeks the Raw writers seem to have become competent, so I'll be nice and give them the benefit of the doubt and say the trend continues. Edge wins with help (possibly a hired hitman from SD commissioned by Long). Big Show and McMahons vs. DX (Handicap HIAC): Overkill gimmick match #2, but this looks considerably less exciting. I imagine Shane and Michaels will take big bumps, and at least 4 people will blade. Lots of weapons and silliness, but enough brutality to keep it interesting. Match quality should be similar to Michaels vs. Vince at Mania. I say the McMahons and Show win to keep the feud going, unfortunately. Nitro vs. Hardy (IC title): Nitro has been a lame duck champion since winning the belt at Vengeance. Despite the potential of Raw's midcard the IC belt has somehow managed to reamain one of the most heatless belts in the company. I assume the match will be good, and Hardy wins, as it's too soon to job him and he already took a screwjob on Raw. Spirit Squad vs. Highlanders (Tag titles): Oddly enough, this is probably the least interesting match on the show. You'd think that with 2 real teams and Ken Doane getting ppv time, that wouldn't be the case. I think this match could surprise, but it's more likely to be very boring. Highlanders win because the SS is worthless. Trish vs. Lita (Women's title): Well, if Lita can bring it like she did on Raw a couple weeks ago, this one could be decent. I haven't been impressed with their singles matches in the past, but hopefully they both pull out inspired performances for this one. I still think Trish/Mickie would've been better, but oh well. Trish has been booked very well recently, so I think she wins here, and the title is vacated for a happy sendoff in front of her home town. Umaga vs. Kane: Battle of the monsters at least has the correct build going in. The match probably won't be that good, and I don't know how many people take Kane's chances seriously. Umaga wins, obviously. Randy Orton vs. Carlito: I don't think this will be the MOTYC that Jim Ross tells us it will be, but it should be a solid match. If Orton keeps the chinlocking down and Carlito sets up his big spots, this one could be in ***+ territory. If not, you're looking at pretty average match at best. Normally I'd say Orton wins by cheating, but since he's in the doghouse again, I say his cheating backfires and Carlito picks up the win.

After seeing just part of that awful MNF showing, does anyone think the Raiders can make a run at 1-15 this year? Man, did they look bad.

Man, I hate Columbia tv. Already ditched UPN, and we don't get CW until next week. Anyway, SD looks decent. I like the build to No Mercy with Booker/Lashley and Finlay/Batista. I'm sure we can expect a 3-way tag title match on the show too. I'm really starting to hate this Rey/Chavo shit. It used to be bad, yet tolerable, but after Vickie turned heel, it's been going downhill even faster. Now they're trying to tie that Dominick angle back in with this one? What a joke. At least Dean Malenko gets on tv.

Yeah, he was the guest ref for the Bischoff/Zbysko match at Starrcade 97, as well as playing a part in the finish to Sting/Hogan. They didn't have The Warrior in 97, but I'd still take midcard Jarrett and Waltman over him.

I think WCW 97 was a little stronger than 98. They had Jarrett and Waltman who made good midcarders. I can't think of anyone good they had in 98 that they didn't have in 97.

I think a Booker/Benoit program is a perfect filler program, or they could even surprise us and have Benoit get the belt if they still don't have confidence in Batista. The idea of Cena winning the title is just stupid, unless they're gonna get ballsy and try a double turn. Awesome. Management is comparing Finlay to HHH. He's totally the WWE MVP of 2006.

Another good Raw, but not quite as good as last week. The Flair -> Umaga -> Kane transition wasn't as smooth and took a lot more time, but Kane's step throw saved the segment. I'm probably one of the few people in the world that doesn't care when Piper shows up. I guess it gives the Highlanders a little rub. The 6-man with them and the Squad was pretty average. The big-name 6-man wasn't as good last week's, but it was way better than most matches on Raw this year. Good crowd heat, and a funny botch. Cryme Tyme's voiceover was great yet again. Mickie/Trish was decent enough. Nothing will ever touch the WM match, though. I, too, am happy to see Trish get the happy sendoff she deserves. Cade and Murdoch beating up DX was pretty random. I know The Big Show was there too, but of all the people I'd never thought I'd see get the upper hand on HHH or Michaels... It was a good beatdown too. McMahon/Hunter was about as good as it could've been. Not great, but Hunter's death selling was fun to watch. McMahon's offense is terrible. Decent build for the Unforgiven match. Again, solid show. Is Dusty booking Raw now too?

I don't think athletes not caring is that rampant of a problem in the pros. You don't get to that level if you don't care. Even if some guys (we'll use TO since he's already been brought up) just do it for money and fame, that still motivates them to play at a higher level. Maybe they don't care as much as they could, but they still care somewhat.

If Ray Traylor were still alive, I'd suggest getting him and Akeem to come back to face Hassan and... Well, you can fill in the joke.

Angle vs. Stars of any other promotion is inherently interesting, but come on... Let the guy heal. This like 3 people underbidding one another on the price of an 8 ball in front of recovering crack addict.

I don't think they've done a formal white supremacy character yet. They sort of hinted at it with Kerwin White and JBL's initial push, but Vince hasn't given us a wrestling Klan member or anything.

Jesus. Why not just scrap the wellness program altogether? This crappy fine system won't work when most guys make plenty of money anyway. The only guy that can't afford to fail a test is Trevor Murdoch. Also, WWE still pushes huge guys with impressive physiques, so there's still an incentive to roid up. Man, their front office is stupid.

It's like a wrist-clutch small package. He hooks one of the opponent's arms between the opponent's legs, then does a standard small package by hooking the head with his free arm and scissoring the legs. It actually looks pretty hard to get out of.

Steelers signed Najeh Davenport. Good move, I think. It gives 'em more power at the RB position, and gives them some more flexibility in the ground game.

Personally, I don't even see why people were backing Miami to begin with. They seemed like a 9, maybe 10, win team at best this year. I wouldn't expect them to go any farther than first round playoff loss. This game shows they'll have trouble competing against good teams. The offense looked bad all around and the secondary was weak. The only thing that looked good was the special teams, but they'll have a hard time relying on Wes Welker to lead them to victory with return TD's. Daunte Culpepper was picking up right where he left off last year, so counting on him could be a huge mistake.

The Tigers doing roughly the same thing the White Sox did last year--Racking up lots of wins through mid-August, then slacking off down the stretch towards the playoffs. Only difference being the White Sox didn't have two capable teams chasing them last year. It'll only be a choke if the Tigers don't make the playoffs.

Is this even legal? How can you force someone to work without pay?

If the Invasion, general handling of the brand extension, and the revival of ECW (aka Raw: Tuesday edition) can't convince you that McMahon will never do an intra-competition thing, nothing will. Give up on it, people.

Won't it take up the same amount of space no matter when it's posted? I fail to see why everyone is upset about when a freakin' Raw or ECW thread gets started. Anyway, this show might as well be part of Raw... The main event is all people who will be fighting at Unforgiven. Hopefully we at least get a CM Punk match or Kevin Thorn's music.

Ok, that was easily, EASILY... The best episode of Raw this year. It's like they were afraid people would be tuning into the US Open, and didn't want to be embarrassing themselves with horrible tv. With McMahon/HHH taking over the spotlight again next week, I doubt this will be a recurring theme, but it was nice to see what Raw could be with all the talent they have. A refreshing change of pace to say the least. Edge's opening promo was good. Perfect type of promo for his character. Cena's involvement was breif and effective. Catching a 230ish pound man jumping off a ladder takes real strength. Hardy/Nitro was one of the best Raw tv matches all year. I dare say it was SD-quality. Good bulid, selling, and unique offense. Ending was cheap, but I was expecting as such. Had to save this one for ppv, and it should be a good one. Good way for Nitro to regain some heat after that abyssmal promo last week, which everyone seemed to be making fun of this week. The backstage segment to set up the ME was well done. Short, concise, but accomplished exactly what it needed to. Super Crazy beating Chris Masters clean = Awesome. Definitely one of the Masterpiece's finer matches as well. The real tell tale sign that this Raw was great was the fact that I found a DX/McMahons segment passable. It didn't take forever and featured no lame attempts at "comedy." The 3-way tag was good, short tv fun. Murdoch stole the show with his stiff strikes and taking a German suplex in a way that would make Kobashi or Misawa proud. Highlanders could've used more offense, but that's a minor complaint. The Flair return blended into the Umaga/Kane feud was predictable, but acceptable. Gives tv time to a feud that could be using more build, so no complaints here. Cryme Tyme was hilarious. The over the top cheesy voice over made the skit. The ME got lots of time and was fun, hot match. Good heelery by Edge and Orton, while Carlito played the face in peril pretty well. Cena looked fired up, and I think everyone was feeding off the crowd. Trish and Lita had a good exchanges, and as a nice bonus, were wearing the low-cut pants as well. Good finish that makes the heels look like bastards and keeps everyone on the faces looking ok. Wow, I actually enjoyed typing that. See, I really want to enjoy Raw, but the underachieving that show has done all year has been disheartening. Tonight was a very welcome change of pace. The matches were good, the promos were efficient, lots of guys got exposure, and Unforgive was hyped well. I hope more Raws start to look like this one.

I'd like to see Nash on commentary with JR. That would be shoot city with the current state of Raw. As for seeing the Kliq wrestle... Not interested.

I think "Hey Ya" is a better Outkast nomination. That's one of those songs that I don't want to hate because it's by an artist I really like, but I just can't help it. The song has an awful sound and makes absolutely no sense at all.

I actually more than one song listed so far... Anyway, I second My Humps, and would like to add the following: - Photograph by Nickelback. Absolutely terrible lyrics and one of the worst rhyme schemes I've heard in hit song. It sounded like a poem written by an 8th grader. - That song by Lil John and Ying Yang Twins. Don't remember the name, but you know the song. From the window, to the wall... That one.