Monday’s edition of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Raw started off with the newly crowned world heavyweight champion Jack Swagger, boasting and complaining about not having any suitable challengers. Swagger won the title after cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on former champion Chris Jericho on Smackdown.
Though the title changing hands could be viewed as an effort to break the monotonous lengthy title reigns that often occurs with top superstars, Swagger’s victory might be perceived negatively by some viewers. Some might be displeased with his victory because maybe he is too green to be given such a big title. Viewers might also feel that more deserving candidates, like the popular John Morrison and the veteran Matt Hardy, should be given a shot after many years of being in the business and never getting the opportunity to hold gold outside of the United States title and Intercontinental title.
Like previous episodes of Raw, this edition had a special guest host, David Otunga, though this circumstance was slightly different considering Otunga is mostly known to the wrestling world as a WWE hopeful participating in the NXT competition. The concept of Raw having a guest host seems to be hit or miss with the audience. On most occasions the audience seems to be ambivalent to the host, granted most of the time they probably don’t have any idea who the celebrity is. Though probably initiated as a method of boosting ratings, the host’s involvement in the episode usually comes across as cheesy and lame.
Of course, the WWE divas were featured in this episode. It would have been nice to see them participate in a normal wrestling match, but of course that wasn’t the case. The divas went toe to toe in a Red Carpet “Dress to Impress†Battle Royal. Instead of being dressed in their typical ring attire, they wore dresses and evening gowns to wrestle, while diva Maryse scrutinized their appearance from ringside. The match, won by Eve, was short and silly, resembling some sort of debutant ball from hell.
Viewers also saw the pairing of two superstars, John Cena and Batista, in a tag team match against the team Show-Miz. Of course Batista and Cena failed to cooperate during the match and a disgruntled Batista walked out of the match causing him and Cena to lose by count out. These types of matches tend to always end this way. Either one half of the tag team calls it quits or one ends up turning on their partner. Overall this match was pretty bland with no surprises.
This week’s Raw falls flat from last week’s episode where fans saw Shawn Michaels say goodbye to the millions of fans that have watched him over the years. Even though it obvious that each episode of Raw can’t be as special as last week’s Raw; the show has become quite dull to watch. The two-hour program feels much longer and it’s difficult to resist the urge to change the channel. Watching the show from beginning to end is far from enjoyable. Longtime wrestling fans might long for the days when storylines were exciting and entertaining, but will have to settle for the same predictable programming every week unless of course they decide to change the channel and perhaps see what the rival company has to offer.
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