Brian "Grandmaster Sexay" Christopher (Lawler) is back! Back in WWE anyway. He's been on exile for a few years now, and I'm not quite sure I ever found out why. Because he voluntarily left? All's I know is, he was active in NWA-TNA for a while, and last night he returned, only to get whalloped by Kane! (Eerily reminiscent of the quick job Orlando Jordan was forced to do in a loss against Rene Dupree last Thursday, actually. Is it management's big call to squander guys with potential in favor of guys who need to look good? Wouldn't it be better to show that those guys who need to look good win a match they actually have to work for? How long is Kane going to have to be a "monster" before WWE realizes people don't care for artificial dominance anymore?) But anyhoo, Grandmaster's back! The Hip Hop Drop is back! The goggles! Well, I'm assuming with the Drop and the goggles...because, y'know, I don't get Spike TV...and Kane obliterated him...
Al Snow, with one more gimmick! Nice to hear he was on Raw again, even if he had to do it as the Black Ninja, and even more degradingly, as Coach's hired goon. But it does give Tajiri something to do, even if the match at Backlash between himself and Coach won't exactly be his biggest challenge ever...
So Mr. Benjamin will have a match at Sunday's PPV after all. And it'll be against Ric Flair. I suppose they're holding on to the Batista card in case Batista is ever pushed as a singles wrestler...Should be a win for Benjamin, or at least a very good match...
Was Lita's conspicuous absence during Christian and Trish's beatdown of Chris Jericho indicative of anything, or was it just the fans adding character to the fuel? Maybe there's something there yet, maybe there isn't...There is something about Eugene, however. He's an effective comic device, as far as I can tell. Wonder what he'll do in the, y'know, ring, and whether Nick Dinsmore will be able to live this down. Al Snow never recovered from his bajillion comic creations...But on the plus side, WWE.com did had a four page article on William Regal, referencing all the good he'll be able to do now that he's back. That was a kind gesture. It also appears he'll be wrestling at some point, which is another welcome development.
Edge's push seems to be tied into the Johnny Nitro character at the moment, but I'm making note of it because it's somewhat ironic that a character named Nitro is on Raw. Somehow I don't think it's lost on the writers, but I don't think this is what Tony Schiavone meant when he called the last Nitro broadcast three years ago a "season finale"...
Speaking of Al Snow, Eugene, and gimmicks destined to lead nowhere, it was good to see Hurricane wrestling, and picking up a win, last night! Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe Eugene will go somewhere (the Godwins sorta did, and they were friggin hog farmers!), and maybe Hurricane has a long and fruitful career ahead of him. Well, maybe...Sometimes there's the entertainment aspect for the sake of the entertainment in this arena...
The night's final match, the eight-way between Evolution and champion Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley (or was it Cactus Kack?), and Shelton Benjamin, sounded like it was a good one. Benoit appears to have been well-received as champion. And so, like Eddie Guerrero, he might actually hold onto the title for a while. Excellent! Raw, whether it wants to admit it or not, might finally be realizing what Smackdown has known all along. Once you get past the bravado, the words, and the one-upsmanship, it's about the wrestling, stupid...
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