2009 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

I enjoyed this Raw, too. It's the MSG factor. The WWE respects their history in the place, and the fans are pretty demanding.

Liked the Kofi-Orton brawl as well, although what happened to Piper during the match? They should have had Roddy come back out and pin Orton on the table, since it was a street fight. Piper also started out, as Batman said, half-drunk during his promo, but I liked the intensity when he talked about beating cancer. This brawl might have just been the thing to put Kofi over for good. The MSG fans were really popping during the fight.

Rest of the show was good as well. You would think, with nearly 40 years in the business, that Lawler would know not to turn his back on someone.
And what the heck is going on with DX that they feel the need to pedrigree a midget?

 

Anytime you can beat up a midget, you go for it.

Piper just kind of wandered to the back. He passed by Kofi and Orton when they first went outside the ring. And I don't know if anyone else noticed it, but either Kofi or the sound guy missed a cue. Orton had to hold up before he aborted the punt on Piper, and looked toward the back once or twice. He looked kind of pissed for a second, too.

The MSG factor was a huge part of the show. The crowd had great energy, and I loved how they had the small door for the wrestlers to enter instead of the TitanTron stage. It really gave the arena a smaller, more intimate feel. I wonder if that was just something they had to do because of MSG's setup, or if that's the new look for Raw?

 

It's their standard MSG set-up. I like it in some odd way...

 

Pretty sure it's the MSG set up, because when they did the MSG video, they showed Cena making his surprise Royal Rumble return there coming out of a similar entrance.

Liked the show enough. Not sure what the fuck was up with DX and Hornswaggle. Why does DX not want him wearing their shit? Aren't they constantly plugging their merchandise? Wouldn't they appreciate a popular wrestler giving them free pub? And no tease of DX dissension before the three-way match is interesting. It's kind of too obvious to have the two friends suddenly start not liking each other in the lead up to a three-way, but they've been way too wacky selling thins.

MSG <3 Undertaker

Piper's crazy out his damn mind, but it wasn't especially funny. And the challenge to McMahon was abrupt.

They're serious about Kofi Kingston, aren't they? But then they were serious about Rhodes and DiBiase last month, right?

 

Mystery, I think the WWE is a bit more serious about Kofi than Legacy. He's been getting a pretty solid push for more than a year now. I don't think it's necessarily been the WWE's brainchild, more like Jeff Hardy, where he gets such a strong crowd reaction that you have to keep pushing him.

I was a bit disappointed with Piper. He came off to me as more old and pathetic crazy than entertaining crazy, and the teased fight with McMahon didn't have me excited, since McMahon is in the ring semi-regularly anyway, and Piper can barely move around now. I was happy that Orton came out instead and beat the crap out of him, and Kofi's beatdown on him after was a "star is born" moment to me.

The main event was good for what it was. I would have preferred them giving it a bit more time. The woman's match was pointless, and Judah Friedlander (sp?) wasn't really entertaining either.

 

Were it not for the Orton-Kofi brawl and the surprisingly decent triple threat tag match, this RAW would've sucked major balls. Piper was useless, the Lumberjill match was a waste of time, and the Hornswoggle/DX stuff, while funny, was also pointless. And don't even get me started on Shemus (sp*).

Thankfully, Kofi-Orton saved the day and the triple threat did just enough to intrigue me about this weekend.

Anyone else here get a little glimmer of hope when Taker tombstoned Cena? Odds it's the WM26 main event?

 

That's what I'm thinking as well. They need a marquee opponent for Taker. Cena fits the bill.

 

I think I've discovered at least in theory the problem with WWE.

Have they cut costs? They probably have by releasing WRITERS. Hence, the wrestlers remain in the spotlight but the storylines are weak.

Which just goes to show you can't save at the top and slice at the bottom in any organization and not begin to erode your foundation. I won't have to worry about newspaper executives seeing this thread or understanding it if they did read it. After all, this is a WWE thread

 

LOVED the old-school entrance ramp across from the main camera. Classic MSG. They've used that setup for all the PPVs there (except WM 20), but that's the first time I've seen Raw set up that way. Really cool look. All that was missing was the Fink doing ring introductions and a microphone dropping down on a cable from the ceiling.

 

The setup is a necessity because, as with Knicks games, that is the primary entrance/exit for lockerrooms. I know this because I have been down that aisle before.

To do it another way would basically mean two things: Re-routing talent through a maze, and eating up valuable seats. MSG doesn't have the same oversized main floor that a lot of newer arenas have.

rb

 

Now they just need to bring back the old entranceway like they had at Maple Leaf Gardens:

 

Every Raw/Smackdown they've held at MSG before last night has had the full TitanTron and stage. I always wondered how that worked, with the normal tunnel being in the middle of the arena. From the way you describe it, it sounds like a real pain in the ass.

They haven't been at MSG nearly as much in the last few years, and I'm wondering if with the limited opportunities they decided to try to maximize revenue by having as many seats available as possible last night. They mentioned the 20,000+ attendance multiple times.