Did anyone else...

[Darthtiki]

Ok, now I know watching Raw and seeing the Bret TitanTron video w/ theme was the old bait and switch and we had a better chance of a Dino Bravo return than seeing Bret appear during the promo. But am I the only one who's inner 9 year old came out once that music hit?

[Dandy]

It made me smile because it meant I was right to expect it. I was thinking at the start of the interview that HBK would say he screwed Bret and that a great way for him to get heat would be to make the fans think Bret was coming out. The only way it would have been better was if he did it in Calgary. Of course, there might have been a riot if he did.

[RedJed]

I have to admit, I was marking - and then followed that with numerous "no fucking way" mentions

[spman]

I would have rather seen The Mountie as the Hometown Hero instead, but what are ya gonna do.

[Guest Frank_Nabbit]

I would have rather seen The Mountie as the Hometown Hero instead, but what are ya gonna do.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Funny, i thought the same thing

[iliketurtles]

Yeah I marked.

 

I just couldn't help it. The pop was so insane.

[Mole]

From the reports I've read, Raw was decent-to-good this week.

 

Was it mostly due to the hot crowd?

[Stephen Joseph]

HBK started it with a hell of a promo that kept the crowd hot.

[Promoter]

Man, that was damn classical stuff last night. Vintage DX HBK!

[Black Lushus]

From the reports I've read, Raw was decent-to-good this week.

 

Was it mostly due to the hot crowd?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

yeah Mole, lackluster show with the only bright spot being HBK's promo (which actually ran 10 minutes logner than it should have) and the hot crowd..

[Hunter's Torn Quad]

The only problem is that Shawn's promo made you want to see Bret v Shawn more than it made you want to see Shawn v Hogan.

[Dangerous A]

Here is an excellent observation from Todd Martin off his Raw TV report on the Observer site...

 

The opening segment this week was the most fun I’ve had watching wrestling

in a while. The ending was so sad. I supported Bret Hart’s decision to make

amends with Vince McMahon and participate in the making of a DVD. I thought

it was good for Bret. But what Bret didn’t want out of the situation was to

help make WWE money off of Montreal. It would cheapen everything WWE put

Bret and his family through. And yet that’s exactly what WWE did this week.

They screwed Bret again. He thought he was coming in to put together a DVD

he could be proud of. Instead, the promotion used that opportunity to all

but false advertise him to sell SummerSlam buy rates, with an angle playing

off the Montreal finish. Bret never should have trusted them.

 

 

Now, I won't go so far as to say Bret was screwed again, but they have definitely taken liberties with the news of Bret agreeing to the DVD work. Some very good points here that are lost on some in the heat of last night's promo.

[Youth N Asia]

I'm a little sick of the HBK in Montreal thing, but he was pretty good last night with it. I think most fans there hate him because they're supposed to now and not because they really do.

 

The Hart thing was too built up to be legit, I thought the music was going to hit and no Bret...seemed a little uncreative to pull it right after Edge did with Hardy, but that's the E for you.

[bob_barron]

I always love when they do that, and I got goosebumps hearing Bret's music.

 

I remember right after Austin walked out, Flair was in the ring and the glass broke and everyone went insane, and then the music changed and Eddy Guerrero sauntered out to huge heat.

[Promoter]

Ah, seriously it's not wwe's fault. The crowd would have expected Bret Hart because they announced on the wwe website that he was back even if it was for the DVD alone. You know fans expect swerves and the wwe just gave them a swerve to distract them from thinking a swerve was coming with Bret coming out. Maybe all the "shooting" by Hogan namedropping Hart last week just made it worse. Remember the wwe and Matt Hardy were supposedly done with too, yet they were getting "We Want Matt" chants. HBK is the devil in Montreal no matter what

[4hartthreat]

Oh I definately marked out several times last night. All during HBK segments. First Shawn talked about Bret SO much that it was like he had to come out to confront him. It's like when Edge started teasing Matt Hardy coming out, you knew he had to have made a deal to come back. So when Bret's music hit for a second, and just a second, I bought it and started smiling. Then later when Shawn ran out to attack Hogan and stopped mid-superkick to put Hogan in the Sharpshooter I thought it was just such a brilliant way to end his interaction with the crowd that night that I started marking out again. All around an excellent night from Shawn from a performance aspect.

[Guest news_gimmick]

I enjoyed it, I really did, even if I knew he wouldn't be there and HBK would start laughing. But on top of that, I enjoyed the entire time HBK was on tv, because the hatred and feelings were REAL. Nothing manufactured, the fans cared and let out some REAL emotion. Nothing overdone, just Shawn acting like the asshole heel he is best at. It felt so good to enjoy those segments and not feel like I was being insulted by the scripted nature of them. Just how I felt and enjoyed it all last night. Hell I almost would've enjoyed seeing 2 hours of Shawn taunting the crowd over the rest of the tripe.

 

 

Well almost.

 

 

Tom

[Youth N Asia]

This was the first time that the 2005 heel Shawn came off like a good heel, and just not annoying.

[AndrewTS]

After 3 weeks of flat out terrible Raws, it was a breath of slightly-stale air, as compared to the methane-heavy blasts that we were getting in the past month.

 

This is, personally, the least-anticipated Summerslam for me in 10 years. You know, the show headlined by Diesel vs. Mabel?

 

In fact, the comparison is quite good, since it had a whole lot of crap, and the Razor/HBK ladder rematch. Although at least the angle behind it was rather interesting, as compared to this AWFUL Rey/Eddy crap.

[Lord of The Curry]

I'm a little sick of the HBK in Montreal thing, but he was pretty good last night with it. I think most fans there hate him because they're supposed to now and not because they really do.

 

The Hart thing was too built up to be legit, I thought the music was going to hit and no Bret...seemed a little uncreative to pull it right after Edge did with Hardy, but that's the E for you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

A lot of them really legit hate Shawn Michaels.

[Promoter]

I'm a little sick of the HBK in Montreal thing, but he was pretty good last night with it. I think most fans there hate him because they're supposed to now and not because they really do.

 

The Hart thing was too built up to be legit, I thought the music was going to hit and no Bret...seemed a little uncreative to pull it right after Edge did with Hardy, but that's the E for you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

A lot of them really legit hate Shawn Michaels.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

SO TRUE!!!! A crowd that gives that kind of heat is letting off some serious passion and then to add his feud with Hulk Hogan in Montreal and it was guaranteed fireworks.

[Enigma]

RAWs in Canada don't feel the same anymore without Earl Hebner.

[RedJed]

The thing that gets on my nerves is that Shawn keeps holding back on going full heel against Hogan - if he would just forget about whatever hesitation he has, he'd realize he could be one of the better WWE heels in quite some time. Last night most certainly proved it.

 

I just hope after SummerSlam (assuming Hogan/Michaels is done then) that HBK decides to stay heel because him going back to a full face after this stuff would just be wrong.

[Guest Rrrsh]

RAWs in Canada don't feel the same anymore without Earl Hebner.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yah, there alot better.

 

At least now Fans chant at workers. Not at refs, therfor ruining matches in the process.

 

 

I marked out duirng the whole promo. It was the best promo since Heyman in 01 and had the most heat since.....HBK in 97/98. It was friggin awesome. Great crowd, awesome promo. It was spectacular.

[Hunter's Torn Quad]

While the promo was passionate and heated, it had a major flaw; it built more to a match that will never take place than to the PPV main event that is taking place on Sunday.