Randy Orton shows on Raw why he is a great heel
I thought Raw was a pretty average show last night. Everything was OK, but nothing was great and nothing was terrible. The most compelling segment as far as execution and story line involved Randy Orton and, believe it or not, Mike Adamle.
Orton is so good at drawing heat that he actually got the crowd to get behind Adamle. Probably because Adamle didn’t have to say much, this was the best work he has done since coming to WWE.
Orton cut an intense promo on Adamle, saying that he has failed in every job that he has had in WWE. No one would disagree with that, but then Orton “crossed the line” by saying that if he talked to Adamle’s wife and kids, they would also say that he’s a failure as a husband and a father. That line prompted the fans to tell Orton exactly what they thought of him.
Adamle’s facial expressions while being dressed down by Orton were very good, as he was believable and not over-the-top. The segment ended with Adamle slapping Orton and the two of them going nose-to-nose.
The major development coming out of this was that Orton threatened to quit if Shane and Stephanie McMahon did not fire Adamle. What happens next should be interesting.
Other thoughts on last night’s show:
The Rey Mysterio-Evan Bourne match is an early candidate to be the best-televised bout of the week. I don’t know what is more entertaining, Mysterio and Bourne as opponents or as a team. The only problem I had with last night’s match was that Mysterio was inconsistent with his selling at one point. Right after selling a knee injury after slipping off the ropes and then having Bourne attack the knee, Mysterio was up and running all over the ring with no problem. …
I was a little surprised to see CM Punk and Kofi Kingston win the tag team title from Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes. I don’t see Punk and Kingston having a long reign, but neither one has a singles program right now, so at least this gives them something to do. …
The Batista/Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho/JBL main event was all right, but it came across more like a house show match. JBL’s backstage beat-down of Michaels was pretty good, though. Obviously, JBL and Michaels are going to work a program together. It’s a fresh matchup between two veterans, but JBL has suffered so many losses lately that it’s hard to consider him a threat against top-level guys. …
That was the best John Cena video yet. I’m just not sure how effective it’s going to be in getting Cena the desired big babyface reaction when he returns. For his vocal detractors, I think these videos will only make them hate him even more. …
Charlie Haas impersonating a diva wasn’t something that I saw coming. As Haasarella, he redeemed himself after last week’s inferior Stone Cold imitation. …
It came a day later than I expected, but The Honky Tonk Man got in his guitar shot on Santino Marella. I think Marella was hurt more last week when he delivered a guitar shot than he was last night taking one. By the way, does anyone remember the last time HTM worked as a regular in WWE? I believe it was about 10 years ago, when he unveiled his new protégé, Rockabilly (Billy Gunn/Kip James), which was actually a worse gimmick than Billy and Chuck. …
The six-woman tag match (Kelly Kelly, Mickie James and Candice Michelle versus Jillian Hall, Katie Lea and Layla) was decent. Kelly Kelly especially looked good in the ring. Then again, Kelly Kelly looks good anywhere.







Comments
If the WWE thinks that airing 20 minute videos 3 times a week for the next month will cause fans to cheer Cena, they have another thing coming.
Posted by: Elevation | October 28, 2008 9:07 PM
I can't agree with you enough about how strong Orton has been on his promos. He's been doing such a good job of cutting down faces and heels alike, that I half expected to see him come out as Batista's partner after the HBK backstage attack.
I guess that the Kingston/ Punk title win would've been the PPV result if it won the tag team vote, so they just pushed it back a day. It's nice to see them give those two any kind of push after basically abandoning both of them once they lost their respective singles titles.
And with Batista mostly winning a tag match by himself, after dominating that gauntlet match last week, the WWE is in danger of making him the newest "super-champ". As we have seen when Cena was given that direction, it can lead to a backlash.
As for the Cena promos, they will make people who love him love him more, and people who hate him hate him more. They'll either be seen as great hype for his return or overkill, and probably won't change anyone's mind either way.
Lastly, if HBK can pull a quality match and/or feud out of JBL at this point, he should be enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame on the spot.
Posted by: Glen | October 28, 2008 9:11 PM
Did Rey Mysterio purposely miss the rope, or was that another raw blunder
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I'm guessing that he slipped, but he and Bourne quickly improvised so it almost came off as a planned spot.
Posted by: Sam | October 28, 2008 10:05 PM
Hev line of the night Golddust saying he doesn't like cross dressers.
Posted by: Jason Mealey | October 28, 2008 10:36 PM
I hope that Kofi and Punk can have an amicable split. I don't want either of them to turn heel.
Posted by: Christopher | October 29, 2008 12:01 AM
Best line of the night was from Goldust upon seeing Charlie Haas - "I don't like cross dressers."
Posted by: Chris Slater | October 29, 2008 12:35 AM
Time heals all wounds I guess. With the three vets all together at the announce table, it's shown that Piper and Goldust have burried their storyline hatchet dating back to their WrestleMania parking lot brawl when they nearly tried killing each other. But if you ever saw Piper's shoot interview DVD, it was shocking to see him and Honky hanging together as apparently they have real life issues. Perhaps cash lets people set those disagreements on the back burner for a moment or two.
Posted by: Bradley | October 29, 2008 6:16 AM
I think Punk/Kofi winning the titles is just the prelude to a long battle with Miz and Morrison. Afterall, Miz "cleanly" pinned Punk the previous week in a tag match between the two teams. Morrison and Punk have already had an excellent but perhaps underappreciated program a year ago. Miz and Morrison already had a great run as tag champs on Smackdown. Honestly, I can't wait for whatever Miz and Morrison have staged as a match between themselves and DX for next week. They were about the only thing worth watching last night on ECW. It's truly scary that I actually find myself cheering for Miz, but the guy has won me over, funky hair and all.
Posted by: Lee | October 29, 2008 8:14 AM
Wondering if Charlie Haas and Jackie Gayda are still married and if Charlie borrowed her outfit for that ..
Posted by: Brian | October 29, 2008 9:17 AM
Does anyone else think that the straight edge CM Punk is partnered with the Jamaican Kofi Kingston. Granted, no where in Kofi's character has drug usage even been alluded to, but it's not like the WWE are known for their positive depictions of minorities.
OOO...perhaps this is setting up a Kofi heel turn down the road.
Yea, you're right. We're giving the writing staff too much credit to actually plan things ahead...
Posted by: Adam and Matt | October 29, 2008 9:24 AM
No surprise that Orton demanded Shane and Stephanie appear next week - doubt if they'll cave in to his demands to fire Adamle - but I figured they'd appear anyway - you know Steph travels a lot with Triple H and DX is appearing next week plus it's the 800th show - a special - only makes sense that some of the McMahons will be there.
Posted by: Jeannette | October 29, 2008 10:03 AM
I enjoyed the Bourne/Mysterio match, but it made me lament the great WCW cruiserweight division of the late 90s. Bourne/Mysterio had a nice match, but it was on half-tank compared to the old stuff. I'd love to see these two go at it for a 20-minute, non-WWE style match.
Is there something to be said about Mickie James being the most popular women's wrestler int the WWE? She's gorgeous, but not in a typical Diva way, plus she can throw down. Who says the fans don't have good taste?
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Couldn't agree more on James.
Posted by: GMan | October 29, 2008 10:05 AM
Hey! I miss Billy & Chuck!
Am I the only one that sees the Cena spots and the unstoppable animal champ Batista as a build up for Mania. Although Y2J was a great heel champ, you will be looking at more buys for the Batista/Cena match up at Mania rather than a topple the slimeball Jericho match. Trick is now finding a great role for Jericho which can only add to the show.
Please WWE put DiBiase with Orton that will would be a KILLLERRRR team. Rhodes an Manu (sp) are great but DiBiase is the next breakout heel
Posted by: Rob the barber | October 29, 2008 12:07 PM
Thanks Kevin, thats what i figured, but i wanted a professional opinion to be sure, they did make it look good though
Posted by: sam | October 29, 2008 1:50 PM
I think it is pretty obvious that the Orton Adamle thing is setting up a Survivor Series match with Adamle's Job on the line.
Posted by: Duffman | October 29, 2008 2:50 PM
On John Cena...
First, I have to say that he is definetly coming back too early. I'm a chiropractor so I know a thing or two about the spine, and nobody can recover from neck surgery in late August or early September and be ready to wrestle at Thanksgiving.
Even though I'm not a Cena fan, I would never want to see anybody unable to continue to do what they love to do because of the desire to return too soon from injury. While he doesn't do much for me, I respect his passion and desire to get back asap, but he is getting very bad advice from his doctors. I also appreciate that he DOES have a lot of fans who will be upset if he has to retire early. That's a real shame.
Even for a guy who is as strong as Cena is, I have serious doubts that he will be able to have a lengthy career based on this. I would love to have a serious talk with the doctors who are saying he'll be ok. Even though I am obviously not involved in his rehab, I can confidently say that they are wrong. If he just waited til the new year, it might be a different story. I just hope it is not a csae of him being pressure by WWE to come back too early.
Posted by: Rob | October 29, 2008 4:49 PM
I love john cena but with all the promos i am getting board to of him. i want him to be a heel when he comes and to partner with randy orton if he hasent turned nice.
Posted by: josela | November 1, 2008 12:38 AM