Keep Vicki Off Raw

Aside from one horrible spot involving Vicki Guerrero, the WWE gave its fans an early Christmas present this past Monday throwing together a Raw that had a few excellent matches. Those high-octane bouts easily made up for a lackluster start and proved to be one of the best shows of the year.

The start of the show, involved The Miz, Alex Riley and Michael Cole in a spoof on “The Christmas Carol” that did nothing to motivate the crowd. While he is a charismatic heel, The Miz has to make his arguments in the ring and finish them there. Otherwise, he’ll be remembered more for his mouth, which is something no wrestler, not even Billy Graham himself, wants.

After that, a solid divas match, which concluded with what looks like a heel turn for Melina, got the show off on the right foot. The women’s division on Raw is a joke compared to the knockouts in TNA and getting Melina and Natty Neidhart in a decent feud is a great way to jumpstart that division.

While there were some matches that were average, two matches in particular were fantastic and are the types of contests the WWE has to have on a consistent basis to prove that they can keep up with the frenetic in-ring action on TNA. Simply put, while William Regal isn’t nearly as talented as he used to be, his match with Daniel Bryan was a technical funhouse, the type of match that used to open up a Monday Nitro 15 years ago and get the fans excited for what was coming next. There’s a reason why the fans applauded afterwards too. They want to see chain wrestling and matches of this caliber. Storylines by themselves just don’t cut it anymore.

The Dolph Ziggler/ John Cena match was also an excellent one, in spite of a near 15-minute wait for the match due to the incompetence of Vicki Guerrero. Seriously, why is this woman on TV? What does she bring to the show? The whole idea is to make the viewer think what they are watching is real, even though they know it’s staged; seeing Guerrero with Ziggler is something that no one would believe is real, even after a six-pack of four loko. She’s not good on the microphone and can’t wrestle either. So again, why is she allowed to be on television? Who knows if that stunt cost the show another short match, but in the end, it could have single-handedly ruined Raw that night.

Luckily, Ziggler and Cena tore down the house in a match that featured a few finishers and great pacing. When it was over, Ziggler proved that he can hang with Cena and this is the type of match he should be having at this point in his career. Not quite ready for the spotlight, but getting closer, these matches with Cena are going to prove to be some of the most influential in his career. All he has to do is get rid of Guerrero and talk for himself on the mic.

The last match, a six-man tag featuring Jerry Lawler, Randy Orton, John Morrision, Sheamus, The Miz and Alex Riley was entertaining, but again, show The Miz as someone who can’t get it done in the ring. Having him get pinned by a 61-year-old, even if it is someone with a resume like Lawler, isn’t good for his resume. The fact remains if his lack of size will hold him back from being the type of champion this company needs him to be. Good looks and charisma can only get you so far in this sport.

Overall, this Raw proved that this company still has athletes that can shine in the ring. They just have to make a conscious effort to promote them.

mm
About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*