This Crazy Thing Called Wrasslin' - WWE Monday Night Raw 9/28/09

Hey everyone. Welcome to my first official review. Last night's Raw was an okay show. It actually did try to set up the Hell in a Cell ppv coming this Sunday night, but kind of failed miserably. This week's special guest host was the honorable Rev. Al Sharpton. I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into. The opening segment was the VIP Lounge featuring MVP and Chris Jericho both giving the Rev. accolades, much to the dismay of the crowd. The moment the guest host's name was announced the boos from the crowd were definitely heard. Boos that I feel were not justified, and actually quite surprising to hear. Sharpton is a civil rights leader who has done a lot to bring awareness on different views to this country. Yet the WWE audience hates him? I don't understand that. It shows how ignorant the WWE audience can be. It's the same ignorance that is shown when CM Punk gets booed for saying that doing drugs is bad. What is this country coming to? Anyway, Sharpton makes a Unified Tag Title match pitting Jericho and Big Show vs. MVP and Mark Henry.

The Unified Tag Title match happened immediately after the VIP Lounge and ended up being a good match to start the show. It is very clear to see that MVP is way over with the crowd. I see him getting into the main event picture very soon if he can keep this going. Big Show and Jericho continue to work very well together. Them working with MVP and Henry has made MVP a much better wrestler. To bad I can't say the same for Henry. Whenever he was involved in the match it slowed down to a crawl and lost most the momentum it had going. The sooner MVP can get away from Henry the better. Once MVP was tagged back into the match for the finish the crowd just lit up. Then we get the same finish Show and Jericho have been using to defeat everyone. Show hits MVP from the outside which causes MVP to get caught in the Codebreaker to give Show and Jericho the victory. I love how Jericho and Show have shown dominance over the rather slim tag division in the WWE, but a new way to finish their matches is needed.

Up next was Al Sharpton's first backstage vignette. It was rather lacking until Santino came into the picture. I must say Santino is the funniest thing to hit the WWE since the second version of DX. By the way that was the DX which included Triple H, Chyna, New Age Outlaws, and X-Pac. Santino confusing Sharpton with Don King was just hilarious.

Next came a Randy Orton interview which left me feeling like Randy still needs to practice his promo skills. It seemed like the interview was written to be recited in a slow, methodical way. Orton looked uncomfortable and rushed his way through the interview. I have seen better mic work from the man before and this was a step back. Good thing it didn't last to long.

Now we get the obligatory Diva's match between Mickie James and Rosa Mendes, who was accompanied by Mickie's opponent this Sunday, Alicia Fox. This match was very forgettable, as most Diva's matches are. I am a big fan of Mickie. I feel like she is extremely talented in the ring, but there is only so much she can do when she is forced to work with people like Rosa. Honestly why does Rosa still have a job? She can't wrestle. She is not sexy. She can barely hold a microphone when used as an interviewer. But hey, if Khali still has a job in the WWE I guess she has nothing to worry about.

The Diva's match was followed by a terrible segment involving Ted and Cody talking about their match with DX this Sunday. Shawn Michaels gave the best description of this segment when he yelled out BORING. To bad DX getting involved didn't change that. I am getting tired of the DX routine. Don't get me wrong I think Triple H and Shawn Michaels are as talented as they come, but DX is getting old. The routine has come and gone. Hopefully after their match on Sunday this feud will be over and DX as a team is no longer needed. Actually I think we might be due another Michaels and Triple H feud. It would be fun to see these two wrestle each other again.

Up next was a match between Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger, accompanied by the US Title which he stole from the Miz. Who stole it from Kofi Kingston. This combined with what was happening in TNA with the Knockouts Title, there is a lot of theft going on. Anyway, this was a strong match. It is great seeing these two talented young stars get some time to display what they can do. The only problem was that you already knew Evan Bourne was going to lose. Bourne is a strong talent that is being held back by being on the Raw roster. On Raw he will never be more than a jobber, as it is a show that is mostly geared toward pushing the bigger guys. Evan would benefit from being on ECW, or even Smackdown. After the match Swagger got a mic to brag about having the US title. He was interrupted by the Miz and his me, me, me speech. This banter turned into a fight. And during this fight Kofi just waltzed right in and took his belt back. It's nice to see the belt with its rightful owner. Seeing a wrestler with a title that doesn't belong with that person is weird and just confuses the average viewer. They will always question why an official, like Vince, doesn't say anything about this happening in the company.

Now comes the obligatory comedy match that has come to us every week since the special guest host gimmick has started. I was very happy to see Rev. Sharpton not get involved in the match. I hope Cedric's match last week will be the last time a celebrity gets in the ring for a match on Raw. Santino and his partner Hornswoggle were up against Chavo Guerrero and Chris Masters. Santino may not be the greatest wrestling talent, but he knows how to bring comedy to the ring. Too bad Masters put a halt to that comedy right away. But when Masters grabbed Hornswoggle I became excited. Finally that little leprechaun was going to get his. Finally Chavo will have the chance to beat up the guy that has turned him into a laughing stock. But Chavo decided to hit Masters. Why? Hornswoggle has done nothing to deserve this sudden act of kindness by Chavo. It looks like this feud is about to take a turn, and I don't think it is for the better. We shall see how it all turns out.

Rev. Al Sharpton decided to do a little dance jig before saying goodbye to the crowd. I don't think he expected to get the cold welcome from the WWE Universe. I wonder if he regrets doing the show. I also wonder if this has turned off any other celebrities from considering Raw as a promotional vehicle for whatever it is they are doing.

It was great to see Cena not overused on the show and saved for the main event. The gauntlet match between Cena and Jericho/Big Show/Orton started off very well. His first opponent was Chris Jericho, who showed no hesitation in doing significant damage to Cena. Or at least it looked significant. Jericho getting disqualified was a perfect way to continue the match. Big Show did a great job causing more significant damage on Cena. Or at least it looked significant. But now this match does a dramatic turn for the worse. Randy Orton did his slow, over dramatic, did I say slow, walk to the ring. Randy must have taken about 2 minutes to get to the ring. During this time Cena was able to recuperate from the significant damage done earlier. Or maybe he just forgot it all happened because he acted like he was completely fresh. This is my major gripe with Cena. He spends most of his matches getting pummelled on, then magically becomes a superman and wins using the same moveset. Every single match of his is in this fashion. Its a miracle he still gets cheered by the few who still do. Cena needs to become a heel pronto. In order to save his career and not become completely stale he needs to become a bad mother-shut your mouth. The Hell in a Cell came down and these two found their way to the top of the cage. Orton gets the Attitude Adjustment and Cena stands around to close the show.

This show was a good Raw which made attempts at making the Hell in a Cell ppv seem exciting, yet failed to do so. Hopefully Smackdown does a much better job leading into the ppv. Tonight on MyNetwork you can catch the Miz and John Morrison on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader at 8pm Eastern. Don't forget to watch ECW tonight as well. I'll be back tomorrow with my views on the show.

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This Crazy Thing Called Wrasslin'