WWE Raw: Kharma speaks, reveals she’s one bad mother (to be)
A little over a week ago, wrestling fans and pundits were perplexed by the abrupt change in direction regarding Kharma’s character in WWE.
It seemed like a lock that she was going to interfere in the match between WWE Divas champion Brie Bella and Kelly Kelly at the Over the Limit pay-per-view on May 22, but Kharma did not appear on the show.
The next night on Raw, instead of brutally attacking the Divas as she had been doing for weeks, Kharma dropped down to her knees in the ring and began crying.
For viewers, it was a WTF moment for sure. Shortly thereafter, it was reported on wrestling websites that the angle on Raw was actually done to write Kharma off TV for “more than nine months.”
Well, it didn’t take a gynecologist to figure out what was going on at that point.
On Raw Monday night, Kharma broke her silence and cut a promo in which she confirmed that she is indeed “with child.”
I congratulate her on her pregnancy, and being a mother certainly takes precedence over her career, but as a fan, I’m a little disappointed that the original story line had to be scrapped before it could play out. Kharma’s arrival on the scene was the best thing to happen to the Divas division in quite some time.
Faced with a sudden need to come up with a Plan B, WWE did a good job of adjusting on the fly. The bizarre segment last week created a buzz and likely had viewers tuning in Monday night out of curiosity.
Kharma, speaking in her natural voice, cut a babyface promo about having two dreams. One was becoming a WWE superstar, and the other was to become a mother. She then said that she was pregnant and needed to take some time off.
She did a very nice job on the microphone and the crowd reacted favorably to her. I was afraid that she was going to get the “What?” treatment, and I give credit to the fans in Omaha, Neb., for having the class and good sense not to do so.
The Bellas then interrupted and made fun of Kharma’s weight and her pregnancy, basically playing the “mean girls” role that would have been perfect for LayCool if Michelle McCool and Layla were still around.
Brie and Nikki Bella delivered their lines well and they got a lot of heat from the crowd. Kharma said that she hopes the Bellas are still around when she comes back in a year.
I wish Kharma the best and look forward to her return.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
I felt bad for Jim Ross when Kharma said that when she tried out for the second season of Tough Enough, he told her that she was “too fat to be a WWE Diva.” The crowd booed Ross for that, but I don’t think it was fair to him. Of course I wasn’t there for the conversation in question between Ross and Kharma, but he has always struck me as a decent guy, and my guess is that he was just saying that she didn’t fit the Diva mold, which is certainly true. After hearing Kharma’s promo, Ross wrote on Twitter: “Kharma will never be a standard issue wwe diva. She’s a wrestler and a keeper. … I met her 4 1st time 3 yrs ago at [Cauliflower Alley Club] w/Steve Austin & we both endorsed her to WWE.” …
I wonder if Kharma was chewed out backstage for saying “wrestling” a couple times in her promo. …
R-Truth was highly entertaining in the opening segment, and I especially liked his interaction with the father and his young son (who were plants, obviously) in the crowd. It’s a shame there were technical difficulties for a good portion of the segment, but that actually plays into R-Truth’s conspiracy theory. I was glad WWE replayed much of the segment later in the show. R-Truth tossing a drink in the father’s face at the end of the show was a nice touch, and the father’s reaction was good. If the little boy had acted more upset – he completely no-sold his father getting humiliated on live television – the angle would have gotten even more heat. …
The match between R-Truth and John Cena wasn’t really much of a match, but it wasn’t supposed to be, nor should it have been. It was simply a means to set up a rematch between the two for Cena’s WWE title that will take place on the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view on June 19 in Washington, D.C. R-Truth kept bailing out of the ring, a tactic that paid off when he lured Cena outside the ring and ended up winning the match by countout. The match at Capitol Punishment was announced by the anonymous Raw general manager to the live crowd after Raw went off the air, with the stipulation that R-Truth must apologize next week for his actions Monday night in order to get the title shot. …
Cena giving his armband to the father – a grown man – after R-Truth doused him instead of the little boy was pretty funny. …
Alex Riley and The Miz had another heated brawl, and for the second week in a row, Riley got the better of his former mentor. It looks as if WWE may have a new babyface star on their hands in Riley, and who would have believed that was possible just over a week ago? I thought Riley had potential after watching him on NXT Season 2, but I really didn’t think he’d get over to this degree this early in his career. …
It was announced that the Raw GM had re-signed Riley after Miz fired him from his personal services contract last week. I thought Riley was officially part of the Smackdown roster. …
Michael Cole cut a good promo on Riley. I was surprised, though, to hear him refer to Riley as a “bastard.” It seems as if the restrictions regarding language are being relaxed a bit. …
Speaking of WWE’s content perhaps becoming a little less tame, there was a close-up of Eve Torres’ cleavage as she was stretching backstage before her match. …
The Divas tag team match in which Kelly Kelly and Eve defeated the Bellas wasn’t bad. By the way, it looked to me as if the Bella who was pinned nearly popped out of her top. …
WWE may have banned the word “wrestling,” but it appeared by watching this show that “wrestling matters” on Raw. There were two really good matches: CM Punk beat Rey Mysterio in one, and Dolph Ziggler defeated U.S. champion Kofi Kingston in a non-title bout in the other. …
Speaking of Kingston, a co-worker of mine who is a casual viewer noted that Kingston “sure does lose a lot for being a champion.” Indeed, he does. …
I thought Cole and Jerry Lawler were too chummy for a couple of guys who wanted to kill each other a week ago. I’m not saying that I want them bickering non-stop for two hours, but there should have been a little more tension than there was. On a side note, while I think Josh Matthews does a serviceable job as an announcer, I didn’t really miss him this week. …
I really liked Alberto Del Rio’s promo, especially the line about him sending The Big Show the bill for damaging his car. …
I’m hoping that Jack Swagger’s loss to Evan Bourne will lead to Swagger re-focusing [in the story line] and getting a push. It was noted in commentary that Swagger losing to Bourne was a “major upset.”
Comments
I absolutely loved Cena vs. R-Truth... reminded me of the great live matches we have here in the Gulf Coast indy rassling circuit.
It was properly "old school," where you have a chicken**** heel who runs his mouth and makes crazy threats right up until the bell rings... and then suddenly he's hiding behind the ref and calling for timeouts and stalling endlessly, endlessly INFURIATING the crowd who want to see him get his butt whipped. THAT is how you build anticipation and heat for a showdown!
These things that some call formulaic or old-fashioned are the cornerstones of great wrestling psychology, and R-Truth proved that in the hands of competent workers, Old School still gets the job done 100% of the time.
One of many nice crazy touches that I appreciated was how after he threw the drink on the audience Dad, R-Truth then immediately turned tail and ran off as if he had wildcats chasing him. That made me roar with laughter, in a good way.
Kevin I agree Punk/Rey and Dolph/Kofi were decent, but surely you are tired of these same stale pairings... I feel like I've seen those two matches 100 times each.
Kharma being given a chance to cut a babyface promo was shockingly classy... moreso than I expect from WWE. Hope to see her back soon.
Posted by: Jules Bentley | May 31, 2011 6:10 PM
So Lawler has a dream about President Obama having a press conference about the upcoming PPV, Capitol Punishment. How did Obama change his tie so many times during the Press Conference ?
Posted by: wrzesien | May 31, 2011 6:19 PM
I gotta disagree with you on the Ziggler/Kingston match. I thought it was given plenty of time to be a good match; it just wasn't. I thought there were too many botches and too much time standing around wondering what to do next by both of them.
Posted by: Marko50 | May 31, 2011 7:13 PM
I can't wait for Kharma to come back.
Posted by: Matthew | May 31, 2011 7:52 PM
It seems like to me Raw is turning R Truth into the next Randy Orton were he here's things and talks to him self the one good match on the show was Ziggler and Kingston it looks like Raw vs SmackDown is dead its going to be WWE 12 i am referring to the new video game also it appears that World title and WWE championship may be unified at SummerSlam .
Posted by: ryan | May 31, 2011 8:58 PM
"I wonder if Kharma was chewed out backstage for saying “wrestling” a couple times in her promo. …"
I don't think so. So long as she didn't call WWE itself a wrestling promotion, she was fine. Every other promotion outside WWE can be called pro wrestling because that's their focus, but WWE is all about sports-entertainment. (Yeah, I feel like a spokesman now.)
Posted by: JETZacx | May 31, 2011 8:58 PM
But did you notice that after talking about the high risk pregnancy and how she had to avoid any contact, she then jumped down off the three foot high ring rather than use the steps?
Posted by: PartiallyDeflected | May 31, 2011 9:20 PM
with Linda's race over it isn't surprising to see the content restrictions eased a little. Though I still think with WWE trying to be major players in films (as awful as they usually are) they will probably keep away from the more risque stuff.
I disagree about the ending of Raw though. I think having the focal point of the finish being R-Truth throwing a drink on a "Cena fan" seems kinda corny. It's "mid 80's heat" at best. After years of causing miscarriages, trying to kill each other and sacrificing their opponents on burning crosses, it's really hard to get worked up over a drink toss.
Also Kev can you confirm this? I heard a rumor that Vince wrote a tribute to Macho Man that will be in Time Magazine?
RESPONSE FROM KE: That is true about Time Magazine.
Posted by: MechanicalBull | May 31, 2011 9:42 PM
Kev, no mention of Kelly Kelly's AWESOME stink-face type move? That must be the hottest thing I've seen on RAW this year. Just FYI, I'd lie there at the turn-buckles to take that move from Kelly any time, any place!
RESPONSE FROM KE: Get in line.
Posted by: Jason | May 31, 2011 10:11 PM
A cleavage shot? On RAW? MY GOD!!! Vince must have mistakenly hired a straight cameraman!
I just wanna see Velvet Sky let those pigeons loose! The IMPACT cameramen don't appear to be gay, at least. That's more than can be said for WWE cameramen.
Posted by: loomixguy | May 31, 2011 10:12 PM
"Brie and Nikki Bella delivered their lines well and they got a lot of heat from the crowd."
Watch that segment again if you thought the crowd gave the Bellas a lot of heat. They made LayCool look like Vickie Guerrero or Michael Cole.
Posted by: chris | May 31, 2011 11:29 PM
I'm amazed with the way they're handling Riley. I'm sad that it's forcing Miz into the mid-card, but man is Riley building buzz.
For the first time since WWF: The Music vol. 3, I wanted to spend money to own a wrestler's theme. If the writing for Riley is to the caliber of his new entrance theme, he'll be the WWE champion next week.
WWE critics on Twitter should check out @wwe_creative. I discovered it this last Monday, and it's like they're tweeting exactly what my friends and I are thinking.
Posted by: Kyle | June 1, 2011 1:01 AM
It was great to see Kia Stevens speak from the heart and exit gracefully with the promise she would return.
When she does return I hope she will become the first woman to win either the WWE World Title or WWE Championship.
On a side note, I noticed Michael Cole referred to Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris as WWE Tag Team Champions when the belts are, of course, held by McGillicutty and David Otunga.
Posted by: Aaron Goldstein | June 1, 2011 9:14 AM
All I can say is it's about damn time Ron Killings gets a legit push.
Posted by: Evan | June 1, 2011 9:46 AM
I thought the CM Punk - Rey Mysterio match was great as usual with any matches with these two in them, but the Kofi Kingston - Dolph Ziggler match needed a bit more work. The biggest problem with that match was that it was so full of counters for each others moves that it looked very awkward and improvised.
Then again, maybe that's what they were going for.
Having Kharma break character is prolly the best way to send her off, if they intend to bring her back. The cat's out of the bag now anyways, so cutting a halfway shoot promo wouldn't hurt her character all that much next year.
Dang, Alex Riley got the biggest pop of the night when he speared Miz... Same thing with R-Truth, very old school way of getting pops, get humiliated and humiliated and humiliated, then do a righteous beatdown on the heel. Judging from the pops, WWE and Miz is doing a pretty decent job getting Riley over, for a change.
Personally, I think Riley got the right looks, plus halfway decent wrestling and mic skills, so he might go pretty far with this push.
And about R-Truth, the old school cowardly heel thing is not done that often nowadays, so I thought it was kinda refreshing to see it as a main event. And I agree, this match was just a setup match, and it should be building towards something more at the next pay per view, instead of squashing R-Truth now.
Posted by: Jun | June 1, 2011 9:52 AM
Kev, I just wanted to say that after Raw went off the air The Miz came out and challenged Cena to a match. Cena won in like a minute. But then he had that father and his sons (yes he has two) go in the ring and celebrate which proves they were plants.
Posted by: Tim | June 1, 2011 11:47 AM
I have recently had a change of heart. I was convinced that Kevin was a mark for WWE and was just on here to bash TNA or IMPACT at any opportunity in the hopes of perhaps one day getting a job on the WWE creative team. I know a bit conspiracy oriented, but I'm just being honest. I'm one of those guys who grew up with WWF just like most of you I'm guessing, so for me to say I was unimpressed with the current product would be an understatement. I graviated toward TNA because it had the "old guys". The guys who provided me with great memories thoughout their careers.
This weekend I spent time watching all the old WWE releases on Netflix such as the History of Wrestlemania, Ricky Steamboat, and Bobby Henan. I couldn't have been happier with the well produced videos. It helped me remember why I fell in love with wrestling in the first place. I think I may have been too hard on WWE, they are just trying to evolve with the times. They are not catering to what I want to see or what I thought I wanted to see. So I decided to watch RAW last night and actually enjoyed a lot of what I saw. Don't get me wrong I definetly want to love WWE again, I just need a more open mind and give these guys the opportunity to tell a great story like they used to when I was younger. So Kevin thanks for keeping the blog up to date and I do think you do a great job regardless of my conspiracy oriented mind.
Posted by: Rosie | June 1, 2011 12:37 PM
A frequent criticism of WWE promos is over-scripting and a lack of spontaneity. I can't help but wonder to what extent Kharma's speech was prepared for her or if she was allowed to speak at all freely. She must have had some leeway.
Whether verbally lambasted or not, she'll surely be reschooled on the ever-growing list of "Terms Never To Be Uttered In McMahon Land." (Stevie Richards must be chuckling.)
Posted by: Boomerang41144 | June 1, 2011 3:42 PM
Eck, or anyone else who would like to offer an opinion, why do you feel that WWE seeminly push guys to the moon and then just kind of give up on them after awhile? Kingston. Hot, next level feud with Randy Orton. Now, the most losing-est champion ever. McIntyre. Vince's personal chosen one. Now, when is the last time you seen him win a match. Swagger. Former World Champion. Now, Michael Holes lackey and jobbing to Evan Bourne. Barrett. Leader of Nexus, and in a hot feud with THE GUY in the company. Now, just kind of an after thought on SmackDown. I could go on but what do you think the reasoning is for this? Not everyone can have a lousy attitude backstage. There can't be that much politicing going on that one of these guys hasn't broken through the glass celing yet. Just makes me wonder why they haven't pulled the trigger on at least one of these guys yet. I just don't want everyone to be cryin' the blues when Alex Riley beats Miz clean at the next PPV and is poised for super stardom and then he's jobbing to Santino Marrela buy the time Summer Slam rolls around.
When is this issue of Time hitting newsstands?
Posted by: Andre the Midget | June 1, 2011 6:47 PM
Kharma said that Jim Ross said that she was too fat to be a WWE diva. Kharma should have said that she did not want to be a diva. Instead, she wants to be a WWE Superstar. When she does return, I hope that VKM will give her a run at the diva's championship. She has definitely done it all in women's wrestling.
Posted by: mjk | June 1, 2011 7:01 PM
Riley's entrance music is by a band called Lucana Coil. That makes him the top babyface in my book.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 1, 2011 8:26 PM
I thought A-Ri has had potential since he started shadowing the Miz. He always delivered his lines with good timing and played his part well. It doesn't hurt that he can actually wrestle and got to tag along with the WWE Champion for the past few months. With his OTJ training on how to be a WWE Superstar and his "unforced' push he may have a great year.
I have to give the Miz props for being a role model for A-Ri and for getting enough heat on himself to give any opponent he faces the biggest reaction of the night.
Posted by: mat | June 1, 2011 9:01 PM
"... every dank, stank promotion from here to Denmark ..."
Kia might have had some leeway, but I'll bet that line was strongly suggested. I would have expected the line to be "... from here to Orlando ..." instead. I was surprised that WWE didn't have Christian deliver a similar line as he reentered WWE after holding the NWA/TNA belt for awhile.
If WWE does give up on Kia, she'll at least have some ready made heat at whatever promotion she lands at.
Nice observation regarding the jump down from the ring. But pregnancy isn't an injury, and I think Kia has enough of a fitness level to make that jump trivially, at least at this early stage. Plus, I shudder to think that this might be a work. I can't imagine that a miscarriage story line would have any entertainment value.
Posted by: Mike | June 1, 2011 9:41 PM
Kharma-pleasant surprise I like how they did that. I thin kshe could be a monster heel or a great Face as well. Lord knwos there are many kids who aren't in the DIVA mold. They could tune her character towards that and be very kid friendly....She'd be a good spokesperson for the WWE anti bullying campaign.
Riley: Well done Alex keep it going. The peeps are loving you. It be nice after the PPV to see he and R-truth go face to face back stage. New Bad ass vs Fresh babyface.
Could bring Morrison back and team him with R-Truth as another pissed off performer. Make the case for another monster heel stable.
Posted by: Patrick Johnson | June 2, 2011 8:00 AM
I really liked this addition of Raw especially with the fact that they gave Karma a chance to talk and explain her story to the world to me it was great for Vince to let her do that almost a s great as when he put the title on Mick foley for the first time proving that sterotypes can be broken like you don't hacve to be a muscled head or a barely 100 ilb female to be featured in his company.
Posted by: frank from dundalk | June 2, 2011 3:05 PM