Kev can you tell me the origins of the new WWE 's PG rating and its ramifications? I completely noticed during some of the action - the quick cutaways - the toned down King ... it seems the genie has been let ouf the bottle - what are they trying to do with this ?

RESPONSE FROM KE: WWE is hoping to attract bigger sponsors. Plus, with Linda McMahon running for office, WWE wants the product to be less raunchy.

Hey Kevin,

Always enjoy reading your opinion. However, I disagree with your assesment that Orton should not have run. I think that kind of self-preservation viewpoint (I wouldn't go as far as calling him a coward) is in line with the character. Also I'm not disagreeing with you that Orton has lost his "threatening" edge; I thought he lost that when he got squashed by Mark Henry after the Trump-iniated trade.

-Matt

I was pretty surprised that the audience booed Sharpton, but he did handle it well indeed. Better Raw than most recent Raws in terms of wrestling, not too much as far as entertainment value was concerned.
It was nice to see that Jericho didn't get pinned last night, we all knew Cena would make it through the first two, but I was glad to see it was by DQ, which was obvious after Jericho lost that the Big Show would lose the same way. Jericho's first match with MVP looked really bad, you could see them talking to each other about moves, see Jericho watching so he knew when to react to certain things, usually, you have to be really looking for those to see that happen that much, but it was blatantly obvious that they were out of synch. Guess everybody can't be 100% all the time. The divas' match was also clunky, Rosa needs a lot more practice in the ring to get up to speed with Mickie James.
I guess with the Chavo deal, if you can't be 'em, join 'em. He has defended the storyline on his twitter account, but who knows what would happen if he said anything negative.

I was glad to see Jericho being booked again as a heel that the babyfaces should fear. How long has it been since anyone tapped out of the Walls! (I know Cena got to the ropes but he kept tapping when Jericho didn't let go). Also have to admit that I was a bit excited for the tag title match, I almost bought MVP and WSM winning that one.

Guerrero probably just realized that if Hornswoggle is out of action he will be out of a job!

Two words: Gelatinous Tapeworms.

Raw was alright. Nothing really jumped out at me. Im more interested in next wks show with Big Ben as host. Im hoping the Chargers can defeat the Steelers Sunday Night and Ben gets booed out the building on Raw.

I tuned in a few minutes after nine and was utterly mortified by what I saw. Talk about giving wrestling fans a bad name - those morons in the crowd were actually booing (loudly!) a bipartisan effort to improve education in our country. It was shameful, and I was embarrassed to call myself a wrestling fan. I felt like I had fallen into the movie Idiocracy. I turned Raw off immediately, and I'm not sure when I'll turn it on again.

Did anyone else notice Cena tapping out while in the Walls of Jericho? This was after the ref rang for the bell and after Jericho had been DQ'd. I thought that was a bit ironic, given the fact that Cena claimed last month that he never says "I Quit.

I was thinking about what you said last week about Jerichos interaction with the guest hosts and while I agree that he shouldn't be punked by them every week I think the idea is to have Jericho as visible as possible every week. So far he has had interaction with 7 of the 14 guest hosts. That's more than anyone other big name has had. The way I see it Jericho is being groomed to be THE face of WWE. It was said years ago when he first came to WWF that he was going to be the next Shawn Michales. Now, more than ever, I belive that to be true.
Of course Santino and Jillian have also had alot of face time with the guest hosts so maybe I'm way off base here.
I'll refrain from going into a big Steelers vs. Ravens argument here (mainly becuse I know I'm greatly out numbered) but I don't think any NFL quaterback should be concentrating on anything else but football at this stage of the season. Especially with the way Pittsburgh has played the past two weeks. Alot of the media here is all over him for it and I can't say as I blame them.

....... Having Al Sharpton kind of crosses the line in my book .
I think an even odder tag team would be Bret Hart and Kevin Eck . :)
.......Go Ravens !!!!

Chavo is doing a face turn. Wondering to himself why is he doing it after everything he's gone through. Maybe if you can't beat'em, joim'em routine.

I want to let everyone know, if they haven't already, to check out the Dragon Gate USA: Enter the Dragon PPV. I highly recommend it. If you want a true alternative to WWE (sorry but TNA is not an alternative, it's more like WWE Lite) then you should check this out. It's a steal at only $20.
NOTE TO VINCE OR DIXIE: SIGN BxB HULK!!!

Last night's show pretty much ruined Randy Orton's character for me. The ending was set up nicely, with Jericho and Show leaving the champ in a heap, but then Orton totally botched it. First off, I know he's "the viper" and all, and his gimmick is that he's methodical, but he looks like a complete fool for slinking down to the ring and allowing Cena to recover and get to his feet. And then he looks like a total coward by running from Cena not once (trying to get out of the ring before the cage closed), not twice (trying to get to the cage door before Cena), but three times (scaling the cage to get away from Cena). Honestly, if he doesn't win cleanly on Sunday (and I don't think he will), I don't think how the WWE can expect us to take him seriously as a threat.

I'm also surprised that the WWE gave away Cena and Orton on top of the cage for free. Sure, it was cool, but wouldn't it have been much better as the denouement to their match?

And Kev, really, why even ask about the Chavo/ Hornswoggle angle any more? Just do like I do whenever they come on screen: watch Monday Night Football.

It was more of the same with MVP. He consistently botches moves and really isn't that entertaining. Maybe I'm alone, but I don't know why everyone thinks he's a top-level talent.

I've said this before but Even Bourne needs to change his ring entrance. He comes out yelling "Yeah!" and throwing up two fingers, which makes him come off as some 12-year-old sissy. Although I guess it's befitting of his knew jobber status.

I loved Cody Rhodes' promo on Triple H, although it was lost among the chants in the crowd.

I liked that whole sequence with Santino in the Master Lock, except it was the exact same way their one-on-one match on Superstars a week ago ended, which I found a little lame.

Isn't DX supposed to be a light-hearted sophomoric entertaining humor bit? I understand they are in a pretty serious feud with the Legacy, but why does Shawn still have that downcast look on his face all the time that seemed to start with his feud with JBL? He almost looks like he's on something that has sapped all his energy and taken the silliness and intensity from past versions of DX. Does anyone else see that?

how about just being happy you have a solid QB and are 3-0 and enjoying the fact that the Steelers are 1-2 and not looking stellar.

Climb holes in the side of the cell for the wrestlers to use == lame.

Foley and The Undertaker didn't need no steenkin' foot holds!

Speaking of which, Cena looked *really* uneasy on top of that thing.

Why would Chavo Guerrero save Hornswoggle from Chris Masters after all the humiliation he has suffered at the hands of Hornswoggle? More importantly, why should anyone care?

Believe it or not, that kinda sorta made sense to me. I'm guessing that his thoughts progressed something like this:

"All right, YEAH! Let that little bastard have it!"

...and then...

"Wow, he's really in pain. I don't know why, but even after everything he's put me through I kind of feel sorry for him."

...followed by...

"Okay, now I really DO feel sorry for him. He's had enough. Let him go, Masters."

...and finally...

"If you're not going to break the hold, I'll MAKE you!"

But then...

"Why the hell did I feel sorry enough for him to want to save him? He deserved it...right?"

That was kind of what Chavo appeared to be thinking after he walked away. I was surprised Masters didn't nail him from behind, though.

Whether or not it makes sense, it probably means that the Chavo/Hornswoggle feud is finally, finally, over. And hey, maybe if 'swoggle's in his corner it'll help Chavo get over again and regain some measure of respect from the fans. Winning a few matches wouldn't hurt either, of course...

I was disappointed by the ending of the gauntlet match too, both because Cena magically got better in the time it took Orton to get down the ramp and because Orton acted a lot more cowardly here than he usually does. Maybe somebody didn't like the fact that a significant number of fans actually cheer the guy while booing Cena and decided to do something about it. I wish they hadn't. For me to be really into a match I have to believe that the heel's more or less the equal of the face, and by trying to run away Orton as much as admitted that he doesn't think he can beat Cena.

We also saw Legacy run from DX, which was disappointing for the same reasons.

I tuned in a few minutes after nine and was utterly mortified by what I saw. Talk about giving wrestling fans a bad name - those morons in the crowd were actually booing (loudly!) a bipartisan effort to improve education in our country. It was shameful, and I was embarrassed to call myself a wrestling fan. I felt like I had fallen into the movie Idiocracy. I turned Raw off immediately, and I'm not sure when I'll turn it on again.

I was disappointed too, but bear in mind that it's only one town. At least they didn't pop when he mentioned Newt.

I was also surprised that he wasn't on camera very much, but when I think about past hosts I figure that it may have been a good thing. That way there was less chance of him getting the name of a wrestler or event wrong the way Piven and Cedric did.

@ Bradley,
I was wondering the same thing about Shawn myself last night. He didn't look like he had the lights on. Even when he delivered his lines he seemed like he was somewhere else.

The way they booked the Randy Orton - John Cena encounter was truly pathetic. In one fell stroke they diminished Orton, Big Show and Jericho and unwittingly they did little for Cena in the long run.

The only interesting part of it was the wrestling on top of the cage -- which reminded me a bit of the famous Undertaker vs Mick Foley segment.

"I was pretty surprised that the audience booed Sharpton"

You're obviously not from New York or the surrounding area...he's not very popular here...kind of a 'look at me' type of person.

Good to see the US title get a nice boost...that and the diva's title are the only one's with a real chance of changing hands at HIAC.

And is it a bad thing that I was rooting for Masters when he put Hornswoggle in the Masterlock?

I'm not surprised Sharpton was booed in Albany. He is, after all, someone who has falsely accused New York City police officers and an ADA of committing rape, has incited riots, has used anti-Semitic language and calls people racist as casually as one drinks a cup of coffee. Newt Gingrich does himself a disservice associating with the likes of Sharpton.

As such I planned not to watch RAW although I did for about half an hour when there was a rain delay during the Red Sox-Blue Jays game. I then switched it to WGBH to watch Ken Burns' documentary on our National Parks.

If the WWE is going to invite Sharpton are they going to invite the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez or Colonel Qaddafi?

the foot holes have been there quite some time.... Cactus Jack v Triple H from No Way Out 2000 for example.... if I remember correctly the holes were put in there because Foley had trouble getting on top, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong...

I'd love to see Rosa improve her in ring skills and eventually be able to hang with Mickie in the ring. Unfortunatly, she's not there yet which was obvious bases on RAW, but even more unfortunatly, there aren't many women in WWE right now that can hang with Mickie. I wish they just had one women's division and had all the best of them on one show and the worse ones on the other. How great would that be Mickie vs Natalya?

Jericho is a legend! I tune in each week just to hear his promos!
The ending was ridiculous. Orton is being potrayed as a total joke. Cena got a beating from Jericho and Big Show and yet still had a fresh Orton on the run at the end. The Legacy members sure have had their fair share of beatings since they formed!

Just thought of something watching Raw last night. When all the good guys do their fancy crowd pleasing moves, like the Five Knuckle Shuffle, MVP's Balling move, or Cryme Tymes rolling the dice move, why not just pin the guy? It's starting to drive me nuts that these moves make the bad guys lay on the mat for 30 seconds when a pin and a win would only take 3 seconds.

Not only were there several missed spots in the tag team match.....did you see that Big Show blew the finish by swinging to hit MVP in the back from outside the ring one sequence too early? This match looked like it was thrown together with hardly any communication.

Wishing an injury on an opposing teams player? I thought you were above that sort of thing?

"As for next week’s host – Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger – I would love to see The Big Show “accidentally” fall on his throwing arm. This is one instance when I will definitely not be objective. Go Ravens!"

RESPONSE FROM KE: Oh, I was just kidding.

was it me ordes this cage loook taller than past hell in the cells and I loved when HHH was comparing him & Shawn to a marvel character i just think he got himself wrong he's more like the 1 that likes to carry a hammer just like him. i still hate the fact that Evan is still jobbing can we please get him back to ECW or atleast Smackdown. i was really surprised to see so much wrestling going on it's like they see what TNA is doing and copying it.

As a white Irishman who lives in Australia, I was absolutely disgusted at the reception The Rev Al Sharpton received on Raw. It seems racism is alive and well in the USA . The guy is a staunch civil rights avocate and was on Raw to promote his eduction tour with Newt Gingrich and the reception he got from the audience makes me sick to be a fan of WWE. A very low day for Wrestling and I agree with Michael from Virgina entirely it will be a long time before I watch Raw again.

That's because Cena is legitimately afraid of heights. He said so in an interview when asked about doing his own stunts for 12 Rounds. It makes sense if you think about how he has only been in one ladder match in his life (TLC vs Edge Unforgiven '06).

Creative doesn't know what they want to do with Orton. He can destroy the McMahon family with ease, but then he looks like a girl for 4 months. He finally gets his edge back by torturing Cena... but then quits after like 2 seconds in the STFU. There is playing a cowardly heel, and there is bad booking. This is the latter

Orton's booking has been the WWE's biggest tragedy in the past year or so. This man should have been one of the best, most powerful heels of all time. Instead, the character's inconsistency (as well as that of his faction, the lame duck Legacy) destroyed what could have been an awesome wrestling storyline, if not an overall wrestling resurgence. Great heels make great faces, but that always seems to get lost in WWE.

KE: "As for next week’s host – Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger – I would love to see The Big Show “accidentally” fall on his throwing arm. This is one instance when I will definitely not be objective. Go Ravens!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

You would be that hateful!

Who's wacko for Flacco - NOT ME!

Why would Jericho and Big Show be more concerned with weakening Cena than getting a fall on him? What do they have to gain out of weakening him for Orton? They are the tag champs, and they are not a part of Legacy and Orton's hench men...

RESPONSE FROM KE: They said on Raw the previous week that they hate Cena as much as Orton. It's not that much of a stretch, since Jericho lost the title to him and Big Show submitted to him not that long ago.

Do you think Vince McMahon has Kofi Kingston playing by the Joba rules? He can only wrestle once in a while so he doesn't hurt himself? What other reason is there to not use your U.S. Champion the show before a PPV except to have him wander down to the ring to take his title back? Audience members get more screen time.

Cody Rhodes needs to wear knee pads. I honestly think it's keeping him back. He looks a little ridiculous.

Has the Raw roster gotten so bad that we need to show The Big Show and Jericho for nearly half the entire program?

And what does it say about Smackdown where their 'biggest main event ever' involves 6 wrestlers currently on Raw?

Hi Kev,
Love your blog. I'm a first time poster here. I wanted to let you know that my son went to this RAW show and after the show went off the air, Cena climbed down off the cage. Then Orton climbed down a little while later. Legacy came down ringside to assist Orton only to have Triple H & Shawn come down and duke it out outside of the ring with Legacy!! Afterwards Cena came down into the ring with Shawn & Triple H and they kidding were making reference to Cena being a new member of DX! What a show ender!

BTW....Big Ben is doing this appearance to benefit his charity foundation....From the WWE site:

Roethlisberger's charitable foundation, The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, seeks to provide support for police and fire departments throughout the United States and to enhance the quality of life for residents of Findlay, Ohio (his hometown) and Pittsburgh.

For the third season in a row, The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation will be distributing grants to police and fire departments in Pittsburgh and in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away opponent for the Steelers in 2009. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has invited police and fire departments in the eight cities to submit proposals detailing their needs.

So what do you have to say now...I don't see any of your Ratbirds on the forefront doing any of this on a national level...so wish for his demise!!! stay classy Baltimore and this blog...

Sincerely,

Steeler Nation

isn't cena afraid of heights? I'm pretty sure I read something like that.

Dear Seamus,
Don't throw the entire US under the bus like that. Do you even know about Al Sharpton's legendary exploits? Do a little research before you try and put yourself on some white guilt trip pedestal. Sure, some wrestling fans are idiots, but your logic is flawed. If the fans were booing him because he is black, why would these same fans cheer for the Rock? Farooq? Kofi? So what do you have left now? No argument, that's what. So get off the pedestal. Every country/government has done bad things at one time or another, but at some point you can't keep blaming people who weren't alive for their country's past actions. So let's not replay US racism again and we won't bring up Rabbit Proof Fences ok? Cheers.

If the WWE is going to invite Sharpton are they going to invite the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez or Colonel Qaddafi?

Gee Aaron, that's not hyperbolic at all.

I should note that I am from Oregon (currently living in Idaho) and news rarely includes Al Sharpton out here, so that is why I was surprised.

Radio personality for New York’s POWER 105, Ed Lover, has a new video online where he discusses Al Sharpton’s appearance on WWE RAW this week.