Micheal Cole's go away heat reached an all time high for me during the match with Bryan and Swagger. Although I think it would of worked a little better if JR would of reacted to Cole's awful babbling instead of being the true pro and just calling the match. Cole is so bad. Even before this psuedo heel angle, I never thought he was a good play by play guy, and this angle, especially this segment with Ross, is just making it worse. The three or four times he screwed up early in the show, though he did correct himself once, don't help him either.

Agree with most, but can't say that I found Cole's immature whining amusing in the least bit when JR came out. Vince knows how much the fans would love one more match called by good ole JR, and instead of giving it to us straight, we get to listen to Michael Cole whine through the whole thing. Another blog mentioned that it would have been best to have Cole throw a tantrum and leave the table to JR and King and I tend to agree with that logic.

Its kind of strange to hear Piper talk about titles with a sense of honor, being that the WWE championship has changed hands clean maybe once this year. They keep bouncing it around from person to person. Heck, the tag team championships are held by two yahoos that will probably be future endeavored the minute the Nexus is disbanded. I'd say right now the only person that deserves their title in the WWE is Daniel Bryan. He actually comes out and puts on a match. Not a bunch of signature moves.

And how great has John Morrison been lately. A void needs to be filled since HBK retired. Morrison is no HBK by any means, but at least he's stepping up to the plate. A program between him and Daniel Bryan would be fantastic.

All in all, I'd say it was good. 3 hours is a bit much, but it was a nice rewind. I felt like a kid again a few times.

Just one word for Tony Atlas...DECAF!!

At least Chavo Classic mentioned Eddie G.

I didn't watch a whole lot of the show, since, as you may have heard, the Philadelphia Eagles were busy taking care of business on national tv, unlike the Baltimore Ravens, so... what was I talking about? Oh yes, Raw....

One thing I did see was the Bryan/Swagger match, and I have to agree with the other posters here that Cole really ruined the match. In my eyes, it was a real treat to get to hear JR call a match again, and Cole's act was just a huge unneeded distraction, both from JR and the action in the ring. What if that's the last match JR ever gets to call? What a damn shame.

Did you notice that after Barrett finished speaking during the Nexus backstage promo that set up his match with R-Truth, he looked right at the camera and seemed to be waiting for the GM to chime in? I think they messed up the timing on that one.

And I can't believe that you, Kevin Eck, actually had praise for a LayCool segment. That's more surprising then Hogan and Flair hugging.

RESPONSE FROM KE: My praise had nothing to do with LayCool -- it was for Mae Young's potty mouth.

I was pumped to see JR coming down to call a match (and a good on at that between Swagger and Daniel Bryan) but Cole ruined it. He was awful. I can't for the life of me figure out how he entertains you.

Did anyone notice Tony Garea tonight? he was one of the "agents" involved in the Cena-Orton brawl. Can't they JUST ONCE acknowledge him? Also, was that Dean Malenko that was involved in that also?

I like Cole. He's a natural and gifted entertainer who can flourish off the cuff.

I'm hoping there was a tell about him being the GM.

As I recall, it was when Cena and Miz were going back and forth and Cena turned to the announce table and asked about the GM.

Cole, a Miz mark, looked clueless, and there was no interruption from the GM.

Cole is the best thing happening in WWE at the moment. I mark out whenever he refers to the "Cole Miners".

If only Russo were booking, he'd be WWE champion by now.

Weren't you complaining a few entries down that another company's show was too reminiscent of 1997? Why does the WWE doing a show like it's 1994 get an "A" for effort? At least 1997 was a good year for wrestling.

Also, is the World Wildlife Fund going to sue over the prominent use of the old "WWF" logo?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Come on. Surely you can see the difference between a one-off nostalgia episode and a weekly rehash of 13-year old story lines.

'john, dont spit in my face'

that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up

This is how you do it, not every promo needs to be screamed out, and to me, piper just outshined cena in that promo

Kevin could we see Jim Ross returning to Raw sometime early next year as the lead play by play? We have seen this thing with him and Cole before circa 1998. Mcmahon should have never moved him from Raw in the first place. And i miss the name World Wrestling Federation(WWF not WWE) to bad they no longer can use it.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Anything can happen, but I don't think Vince wants Ross back in an announcing position.

@ Anonymous:

I wouldn't call Justin Gabriel a "yahoo" - did you not see his one-on-one matches with Randy Orton? The guy's much more than just a spectacular finishing move, he can hold his own in matches at the top level - in fact, he's probably the out-and-out best worker of all the Nexus members.

I had a hard nostalgia crash during the picture-in-picture promos, although they worked in the 80s/early 90s and would probably be corny today, I really miss those. It was an instant way to add heat to any match.

Also loved the lighting, returning to blacking out the crowd and putting the focus on the wrestlers. I suppose today is all about spectacle with the HDTVs and whatnot, but it was a simple way to keep the focus on in-ring action.

Lastly, I additionally loved the retro tees, namely the Survivor Series and the 1994-era King of the Ring. I know it's Regal's gimmick and all, but an odds they bring it back (perhaps to the November PPV of 2011)? Or, has the Money in the Bank taken over the KOTR as the "instant bump" PPV of the year?

I agree 100% with the reviewer above who said that the only person who deserves their title in the WWE is Daniel Bryan. The tag-titles mean nothing on Nexus. Even more so when Santino and Kozlov are now number one contenders. Kane has done nothing to enhance the World Championship and as for the Divas Championship. . . Ugh!

Each and every week Danielson manages to put on great matches, no matter who he is out there with. I expect him to do the same with Ted Jr. and in the process help get him over. For me, he's a throwback to the the days of Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect when they had the Intercontinental Championship and always put on great matches, especially when the Huckster was champion. It's nice to see that even in the confines of the WWE, Dragon is still The Best in The World.

One thing I have to disagree with is Eck's view that Michael Cole was hilarious during the Bryan / Swagger match. Not only did he distract from J.R.'s return (probably something Vince McMahon wanted) but he totally took this viewer out of what was a fine match. Cole's character (if I can call it that) is spread too thin across three shows. I don't see what good it does for business to have your play-by-play guy continually crap all over your own product. Have Jerry Lawler heel it up again and Cole do play-by-play, poorly though he does. Better yet, bring in CM Punk for a three-man announce team. Or just do the right thing and bring J.R. back!

I really think WWE needs to improve.The booking is very lazy: look at how the hart dynasty is breaking up, how they start the feud between bryan and dibiase. Nobody cares because there is no storyline anymore. Why are there guys from smackdown on raw? I know you hate the divas but come on even though I didn't really like the piggie james storyline, at least there was buildup. I hope WWE didn't drop the ball on Swagger, please put him back on top. Also, I miss CM Punk.

I agree with the "A" for effort, but I thought the show lacked something. LOVED the nice nostalgic touches and old school stuff (especially in the first hour or so). But it did drag a bit, running longer than some WWE PPVs of recent times (3:15). Bryan-Swagger was match of the night (esp. w/ JR's cameo). I really like Del Rio, although I don't think his match was quite as good as some of his recent ones. I am not impressed with R-Truth in the slightest, but Eve Torres is single-handedly dragging his butt to relevance. More Eve. I enjoyed the open and I really really liked the first part of the close especially Piper's performance. That Piper promo was one of the better promos the company has had in the past 6 months, and gives a glimpse to those who never saw Piper (in his prime) what made him so great.

I did NOT like the very ending of the show. After Piper's great work on the mic and building the title, the match, those involved and the "will he or won't he?" aspect of Cena @ SS, John Cena basically screwed it all up (I blame Creative more than him). One of the great things the WWE has done in the buildup to this main event @ SS (lord knows its the ONLY thing they've built up decently on the Raw brand) is being patient and really keeping an air of mystery and leaving it up in the air as to which way Cena would go and how SS would go. Most are predicting Barrett to win, but while many may want him to turn heel, I think most people didn't think it would happen. But there was definitely the dark-horse possibility that Cena would go total heel or true tweener in some way @ SS. They've been building BOTH Cena-Barrett and Cena-Orton. They have been patient and were perfectly positioned to going any number of ways @ SS, but one of the big payoffs they were building was Cena going off on Barrett and destroying him either before or after the match result. And then they go and blow it on Monday night. I know I'm being picky about it, but they just had one of the payoffs given away before SS (WCW circa late '90s anyone), and now part of the mystery and anticipation is gone. It now appears they are keeping Cena exactly the way he is, he gets to chicken out of siding with one guy over another and he gets to "call it down the middle".

Also, all I could think of during that awful Santino-Kozlov-Volkov-Sheik segment, was Kevin Eck's retelling of his story about interviewing Sheik (I do watch the videos!). I have no idea who thought putting The Iron Sheik in front of a live mic on live TV was a good idea, but hopefully that debacle ends that.

Overall I think I really liked the little things and details about the show (Lord Alfred Hayes FTW!) more than some of the actual execution of "legends" appearances (other than Piper) and the show in general. Not the worst show, but I wouldn't be sad if this were the last one of these for a long while.

P.S.: Michael Cole sucks. JR hitting him with the cowboy hat was the mark-out moment of the night. WE WANT JR!!!

Jim Ross... I miss him so. He ran circles around Michael Cole. One reason I don't watch as much is Cole. I think the show was ill placed in the go home show before the PPV. I thought Piper did an outstanding job with his segment.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I agree about the placement of the show. It wasn't the greatest idea to do it on a go-home show, but after wathcing it, I don't think it really hurt the build any. And in the case of the Piper's Pit, it really helped sell the PPV.

Michael Cole is the WWE's version of Tony Schiavone.

You forgot to mention that during the dance segment with Dusty, Kelly, Goldust and everyone else, Ron Simmons came out and said DAMN! An appropriate way to end that silly segment.

Seeing JR back was really nice and he gave the Bryan/Swagger match a little touch of importance with his announcing. Usually I find Cole's heel persona to be entertaining, but during that segment he was unbearable. I also liked that as JR was leaving and Lawyer was saying goodbye to him, JR said to King "I watch you every Monday". A possible hint that JR is the anonymous GM?

I must have missed something. How were they able to use the old logo. I thought they lost that in a lawsuit. Little help here???

What's the deal with WWE being able to use the F now? Do they no longer need to blur it out? I haven't bought one of their dvds in awhile, but the blurred out F's made them unwatchable.

I think Sheik was throwing in some F's of his own which is why they cut his mic.

Also, you forgot Farooq in in the dancing skit. His "Damn" is always hilarious.

So when WWE has old men show up & make a farce of wrestling (i.e. that goofy American Dream dancing bit) it's called nostalgia? When TNA has old men show up & make a farce of wrestling it's blasted?

What's the difference? Both take screen time from current superstars who should be getting the spotlight. I'm really just playing devil's advocate here. WWE doesn't do this sort of thing on a weekly basis, so there is some difference. But on some level it's the same; the focus is taken off up-and-comers & put on has-beens.

Think of it this way...next season would you rather see the Orioles play an in-his-prime Cesar Izturis @ short or a 50 year old Cal Ripken? Oh. Wait. That actually might not be a bad idea.

I loved the old set and I would love to see them keep the interview stage by the entrance ramp. I thought having the audience behind them was a nice touch and the close ups on Barrett really added alot of drama to the story. You really can't get those close ups in the ring.

i hated when cole was being a jackass when jr. came out,i mean i know he suppose to be a heel and all but heck he could,ve shut up atleast for that.jr deserves respect not disrespect.

You're dead right about Slick & Tito, which speaks volumes about how much of their fan base WWE has lost over the last couple of years. I noticed it even during Bret Hart's stint earlier in the summer, it seemed as if only a couple hundred fans even knew who he was aside from being "Raw GM". Pandering to little kids is certainly profitable in merchandise sales, but after already going through the same thing post Hogan era and pre Attitude era you'd think Vince would be more aware of what happens after those kids mature and poop jokes and bling aren't so awesome anymore.

I suppose the only difference now is that TNA is not the threat WCW was. Either way TNA or WWE needs to figure out how to get those fans interested again

Great show! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the legends. However, is it possible for the audience to have been more dead? Gosh...these legends come out to essentially silence from the audience. You're right though, Kev, many of them may not even know who these guys are. The smart wrestling fans are so few and far between anymore...giving way to the kids. Too many smart fans won't watch today's product. This episode was right up our alley though!

I thought I heard either Cole or King slam Ric Flair and Hogan a little during I think Slaughter's match. One of them said something about "I thought wrestlers didn't wrestle anymore after they got into the Hall of Fame." If it was a dig at Flair and Hogan...funny.

The Sheik is so funny...who in their right minds thought it was a good idea to give him a mic?! Glad they did though...the Hulkamania stuff was classic! Mae Young was the highlight of the night for me!

Kudos to WWE for paying tribute to tradition and history. Maybe it will spark some younger fans to go back see what wrestling used to be.

at least we saw jim ross

Kevin,

I'm with you as a long time wrestling fan and got a real kick out of seeing the old stuff. How does WWE get to use the old WWF graphics and sell WWF merchandise? Are they paying World Wildlife Fund?

Thanks!

I thought that it was a great show overall, although I probably wouldn't have put it as the final show before a PPV. I did like the Piper's Pit segment, as it really established how important the WWE Title is. Everybody played their part well in the segment, and I am really wondering what Cena will do now at Survivor Series.

I thought most of the appearances on the show were great. I loved George Steele coming out of nowhere and eating the turnbuckle. I also thought it was funny when Tony Atlas practically talked Yoshi Tatsu to death. And Mae Young had, by far, the funniest segment of the night.

I think that there were some interesting angles that came out of this show. I like how they were able to accomplish this even while promoting the legends. It seems that Marella/Kozlov is a legit tag team now, which makes me think that they could become similar to Booker T and Goldust from years ago. And Ted DiBiase is now involved in a feud with Daniel Bryan, which is a good alternative with CM Punk out. I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.

Is it ironic or merely coincidental that Old School Raw was held on America Recycles Day? (I wonder.)

Was it simply an off-hand comment or an instance of foreshadowing when Cole asked if we could imagine him and Vince McMahon announcing together. (We can only hope.)

Am I the only one who thinks Nikolai Volkoff must really kick major butt on Karaoke Night? (Probably.)

Does Kevin Eck have a groupie in Chocolate Town -- as JR was leaving the announce table and Cole was still ranting, a sign in the crowd seemed to read "Count 'N Eck Awesome"? (Something we should know about here, Mr. Blogman?)

And finally, was that Polynesian Argyle that Snuka was sporting, or did he just (as Roger Clemens might say) misremember to separate the whites from the bright colors? (I know -- what whites?)

RESPONSE FROM KE: I saw that sign. I have no idea what that meant, but I don't think it had anything to do with me.

A good heel announcer has to either be really funny like Heenan or really smart like Ventura. Jesse was a heel announcer who would get angry when heels were unjustly treated. Like when Ronnie Garvin was messing with Valentine. Or he would dislike a face for a legitimate reason i.e. Hogan's arrogance, Beefcake's cutting hair.
Cole is not funny and he dislikes faces for dumb reasons. That's why it doesn't work.

I went to the RAW event in Hershey and just thought I’d throw out a few things after your analysis.

Before RAW, there were two matches for Superstars. Melina got a big pop in a tag with Gail Kim against Maryse and Fox. Kim was actually the star of the match but Melina got the fall so maybe she’s out of the doghouse a little. Yoshi Tatsu got a decent pop against Primo. The really interesting part was that CM Punk came out for commentary and got a huge pop and had people chanting his name throughout the matches he did. After hearing that, it has to be killing him to be sidelined.

The best wrestled match of the night was Bryan/Swagger. During the commercial break, they were doing a lot of amateur style wrestling and Bryan was getting the worst of it. For the crowd, it built up Bryan’s comeback which was on the telecast. Bryan and Swagger are both incredible in the ring and are going to be around a very long time. JR got a pretty big pop when he came out for the match and after I saw the telecast I was wondering if there’s something going on there for the future between him and Cole.

Slaughter got a massive pop when he came out and laid into Del Rio and Sarge actually accounted himself well in the ring. People forget how popular he was at his peak and it definitely showed through with the crowd.

As for some of the legends: Slick did get a ok pop considering how long he’d been out of the spotlight. People knew who he was (my section had a bunch of people doing “Jive Soul Bro”). Steve Lombardi fell flat and I think there might have been some better choices than him to do the squash match. What was stunning was you could hear crickets when Jimmy Snuka came out. The build-up was fine but for some reason the Superfly wasn’t over with the crowd at all. I was also surprised people didn’t seem to remember “The Animal” right away either. I was devastated that my “turnbuckle” chant failed but ah well.

And it’s official - people still hate the Iron Sheik. Even though he was brought to the ring in a wheel chair, everyone booed him badly and did it again during the Legends curtain call at the end of the show. It did seem like something happened to his mike during the segment but it was hard to hear what he was saying in the house.

The Tito Santana situation was interesting given where it took place in the show. I think it did catch a lot of people by surprise that he was stuck in the middle of an Alberto Del Rio intro. It was odd to get hyped up to give heat to Del Rio and his announcer and stick a babyface like Santana in the middle of it. I think if Tito had gone the ring first it would have gone a lot better.

The Mae Young/Lay-Cool segment came off a lot better on TV than it did live. There was literally no heat given to Lay-Cool despite their comments. The whole 10-year old girl act came off as stupid and no one cared until Mae started firing away.

Ziggler/Henry was a pretty entertaining match and the whole “chocolate” thing started in my section. The logo they used in Henry’s intro was an altered Hershey’s bar so that’s how that got going.

The Hart Dynasty split didn’t get much of a reaction. Smith looked fantastic in the match until the kick but Tyson Kidd didn’t even get booed. While Kidd has talent, no one cared about this at all and I think after Smith smashes him Kidd will be headed to Marty Jannetty land.

The whole Usos/Santino-Kozloff segment while overall good was very oddly booked. Kozloff got heat for singing the anthem which seemed to have surprised him. The crowd was in shock when Santino actually hit the Cobra and got the win. I agreed about the booking – that is going to kill the Usos for a while especially losing with Snuka at ringside.

But I have to say that through all of Santino’s silliness, he actually wrestled a great match. His bouncing on the outside of the ring showed a lot of passion as well. Marella is a lot better than people think because of his gimmick.

And when Shaemus did the run-in, business definitely picked up. Until you see the guy live, you have no idea how physically imposing he is. It reminded me of the first time I saw The Big Show live. You just don’t know how massive some of these guys are until you see them up close.

Cole’s commentary on R-Truth was spot on. I can tell you I didn’t hear one person going along with the "Crunk" song despite the key words being put up on the screens. He did get some “What’s Up!” reaction. But the match with Barrett was fantastic. I gained a new appreciation for Barrett by his performance. R-Truth is incredibly athletic in the ring and Barrett hung right with him all the way. Not sure where they are headed with R-Truth but I hope it’s a much different direction. He is a great in-ring performer.

John Cena outpopped Randy Orton all night but of course the reaction for both of them was huge. There were a couple of small attempts at a “Cena sucks” chant but they fell flat which I didn’t expect. I think the Nexus/Cena situation appears to have changed people’s perception about Cena. The Cena/Orton confrontation mid-show had the crowd on its feet and if WWE handles things correctly at Survivor Series, matches between the two are going to seem fresh and not re-hashed.

One thing that really sent chills up my spine was how spot on Gene Okerlund, Howard Finkel and Roddy Piper were. After Mean Gene’s performance, I would not object at all to WWE bringing him back. Despite being away for such a long time, he saved a couple segments (especially the Mae Young segment by adding in the no DQ line that set up the outcome). There is no one out there that can match his interviewing skills and he would be a much-needed boost to RAW. And without a doubt, a match just seems more special when you hear the Fink do the introductions.

As for Piper, Piper’s Pit was incredible. It was funny that I told the guy next to me I hoped Piper had dropped some weight before this so he looked a little more like the “Hot Rod” we all remembered. With him coming out in better shape, it gave him more credibility because he didn’t look like a washed-up out of shape ex-wrestler anymore. By Piper following through with an amazing performance, he raised the intensity and importance of the “Free or Fired” angle to a new level. (The invocation of Capt. Lou and Curt Hennig really put the segment over.) I don’t think everyone involved could have been better and it was an awesome way to finish the show.

Can't wait for SS and probably not for reasons of most. I really believe that Barrett will win the title but not due to Cena screwing Orton (or just for his freedom). Something will happen to give Barrett the title and then Cena does make good on his promise to give Barrett the beating of his life. Then my man, the Awesome One cashes in his money in the bank, taking advantage of Cena's beating of Barrett.
That fits in perfectly with Miz and Cena having a program (though short) and putting the belt back on Cena thus giving us the Big Wrestlemania match between Cena and a really pissed off Orton who will believe that Cena screwed him over at SS

Kev,

Do you think WWE is slowly plugging in more "attitude" moments (i.e. Sexual Chocolate) now that Linda lost her congressional bid.. and $50 million in the process.

I think they probably won't go all the way back... but may mix in a little blood and salty language at times.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I think things may loosen up a little, but I don't think blading is coming back.

Let's see...Yoshi Tasu doing a harakiri (suicidial) motion? Mark Henry doing his "Sexual Chocolate" gimmick? Mae Young calling LayCool B***HES and S**TS? Well, it's a start...

Tyson Kidd started out as a heel before the whole storyline to unite as The Hart Dynasty right?

I always thought he had a little more of a heel presence, maybe he's destined for a program with Daniel Bryan?

they should've turned off Cole's headset and just let Lawler and Ross call the Bryan/Swagger match, which was pretty good.

Best part of the Dusty Rhodes segment was the interaction between Gold Dust (Dustin Rhodes) and Cody. "Help a brother out." followed by Dusty's reaction "I raised some strange kids."

What a fun episode.

I hope that this editionshows that WWE can have managers and interviewers who have actual personality in the future. I would love to see some of these individuals in limited capacity as managers and personalities. They mostly seamlessly integrated the legends into segments, like Steele, Young and Piper (who was fantastic).

Also, can we bring back those pre-taped segments like Ziggler did? I like those old-style promos infinitely more than the stare downs and crowd pandering that we get now.

I can't believe they let Sheik have a mic. Thought the PG era was coming to an abrupt close.

I thought the Rhodes/DiBiase segment was pretty funny. Dusty saying "Boy I raised some weird kids" at the end was great.

I don't dislike Michael Cole, but he needed to leave and let us have King and JR for ten minutes. It was grating to have him mocking what most people would love to see every week: two excellent workers and a phenomenal play-by-play man who respects them both. A far cry from what we typically get.

Do you have an explanation about how WWE is now allowed to use the old WWF logo again? Was there a clause in their settlement with World Wildlife Federation that allowed them to reference WWF after a certain number of years?

The only thing I think might have been a nice touch is for all of the legends (the ones that could actually get safely to the ring that is) come out to help Slaughter (who did a better job of working than most current day "superstars") instead of MVP.

I'm not buying the whole MVP enforcer deal. He just comes off as a loud mouth. But, I can also see why MVP might have done this because on the lumberjack match with Otunga and Edge, Del Rio pulled Edge down off the apron to make him hit his head. MVP then mouthed off to Del Rio about it. The greatest thing though was that Del Rio just smiled the whole time and motioned for MVP to just go away.

I smell a storyline going on there since Edge is going after Kane, Mysterio is out with an injury, and well, who else is around?

WWE trying to remember past times reminds me of TNA now a days.

I was disapointed to see Snuka yet again. It should have been Rikishi. They should bring him in as the Uso's manager. Rikishi would help them gain some popularity.

Hey Kev, just wondering, we all know Jim Ross is one of the best (if not the best) announcer of all time. Vince must also see this surely, therefore why is he not behind the table every week for Raw?! I enjoyed the episode. It was good to have a taste of what Raw used to be like back in the 90s. Great blogging Kev.

DAMN!

I haven't been able to stomach a full episode of Raw or SD in months but I was in from start to finish on this one. Highlights 1 & 1A were JR & Piper's Pit. I also haven't been close to being tempted to but a PPV in years & frankly have hated the Cena/Nexus storyline. But after the Pit, I'd lay out $20, just not $50. For me, Michael Cole & the whole GM on a laptop creates "stay away" heat so that's what I do. I was ready to bail on this episode when JR showed up. I too wish MC would have just stormed out. That garbage he was cranking out needed to be dialed way back. At times though, Cole looked like he couldn't keep a straight face & the hat attack by JR looked like something you would do to your kid when he's cutting up a little to much. Stupid question...any real life friction between JR & MC?

Hey Kev do think Cody Rhodes is turning baby face even though he is insulting fans but he handing out free stuff like mouth wash and tooth brushes and fans seems to enjoy it your thoughts . I did like Old School Raw as well i thought Cole was funny the he was acting dozing off .

My thoughts, great show,
Piper had me glued to the set, i agree with previous blogger, amazing promo, but u ever notice for the Pipers Pit's he steps it up a notch but for other segments he rambles, he is more focused on his own show..
Ron Simmons.... Damn,,, it was good to see him,
I loved Slick as a kid, lol
I think giving the Shiek a live microphone is a bad idea any time. for any show..
i thought the matches were decent, worth 3 hours, best highlights were JR and Pipers Pit.
Did anyone mention or notice Mean Genes hands shaking during his segment? that was a little scary..

Piper's promo gave me chills.

...and JR's announcing reminded of what a great play-by-play announcer SHOULD be... helping tell the story of the match, instead of calling attention to himself.

I really hope there's a blow-off coming soon to this delusional-insane gimmick for Cole, and that the result is JR rejoining King on Raw.

Yes I noticed Gene's hands shaking during the segment. Maybe he was nervous doing live tv for the first time in years but it was great watching him interview and hearing his unmistakable voice. He should be brought back to Raw.

Michael Cole either needs to leave or go back to smackdown. He is a terrible announcer. First when he opened the show, I was kind of upset when he said "Jesse Ventura." Jesse was NEVER an announcer on RAW. Secondly, he needs to end this verbal love affair with the Miz. Miz can be good YET having a lead announcer verbally level his opponents is just a joke. And most of all, he disrespected JR.
I really liked Mean Gene's segment with Bob Orton. I wish WWE would have interviews again. That way, a good promo among the crowd would be really cool and the wrestler will have to think.
I was wondering, when the Iron Shiek mentioned hulk hogan, is that any indication that he is the next big thing for Immortal?

The best part of the "old school" was not the "old school" legends but the style of the show. With the exception of Piper who was amazing, most have been seen recently enough to not be a huge impact for the show.

I believe JR was brought out just to get heat on Cole. It worked but in a good way I thought. It almost seems as if JR could be the GM. Cole would be so peeved if JR was his "boss" and that would be fun to watch.

The picture in picture interviews should be done more often to get guys a chance to develop mic skills. Those are taped so it could be used to help guys like Morrison or Kofi who would be a total package if they could be better on the mic.

A very fun Raw to watch. Take note WWE.

hay kev do you reckon something big gunna happen at survioer series in the orton match like vince returns and says cena wont be fire and changes the rules for the orton match cause after all it was the nexus who have kept vince out in the storyline

Kevin, sounds like The Iron Sheik takes any opportunity to diss Hogan, after your story last week!
Notice that Santino tried but failed to get Sheik to be quiet, then WWE cut his mic?

@mechanicalbull
Both companies are on two different wavelengths. TNA is being killed by the Hogan/ Bischoff regime. WWE is now geared for kids. The people who watched in the 90s are bored after seeing great wrestling from WCW and WWE. Now you are lucky to see one good match after 4 wrestling programs.
Its not like you have a return to the monday night wars. In reality, you have a minor league promotion with aging stars at the forefront and a champion who does not wrestle holding down talented wrestlers. And you have a major league pomotion thats story lines and matches are geared towards kids. Bottom line, wrestling has changed.

I miss JR so badly. I felt like I had been given an early Christmas gift that Cole stomped on til it broke. I was so upset with that.

And I'd really like to see the WWE go old school all the way and make the prices for a PPV the way they were in 1986! I think it was $26!

Stopped watching Raw for over 6 months now, but watched bits of this episode. Great seeing some legends back, but without a doubt, the best moment of the night was Jim Ross coming back to call a match.
The disrespect shown to him by Michael Cole totally ruined what should have been a great moment of JR & King calling a match after more than a year. I don't know what WWE achieved from mocking JR. . . Now that JR is gone, back to missing boring Raw episodes again....

Just depressing. Depressed those old guys still have too do this, depressed my youth was so long ago, depressed a grown man writes a wrestling blog, just depressing.

I think the iron sheik-hulk hogan promo was not in the script. I think the sheik just started talking about it. He tried to start when slick was coming down to the ring, but then he stopped. Then he started it again, after slick's music shut off. I don't know if you noticed Santino was nervously jabbering and trying to the steer the conversation away from Sheik while Sheik was talking. Santino was saying obvious stuff like "they are legends ladies and gentlemen!" it sounded to me like he was making stuff up to cover up sheiks talking. And then sheiks mic went off. And right after that for no said reason, The Uso's came out with no previous introduction or stated reason. It all seems pretty suspicious to me.